


Bringing Light

by KeyDaWolf



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Eventual Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, F/F, Lumity, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 109,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26320570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeyDaWolf/pseuds/KeyDaWolf
Summary: Luz and Amity are tasked with finding the mysterious reader of emotions located in the darkest cave of the Boiling Isles. Luz is excited, Amity is terrified. Will bringing the brightest light to the darkest place known to witch kind be a good idea?
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Edric Blight/Original Character(s), Emira Blight/Viney
Comments: 72
Kudos: 244





	1. The Assignment

Chapter 1 – The Assignment

It seemed like minutes since Grom had ended, it had been only last night that Amity and Luz had danced Gromethius the fear bringer back into his hiding place beneath the school. Amity clutches her books tightly to her chest as she heads for Hexside, her brain still buzzed with thoughts and feelings she dared never express aloud. Walking down the pathway to the school, Amity glances up when she hears the familiar giggle of the epicentre of all her thoughts and feelings.

Luz was, of course, as bright and cheerful as always, happily trotting along with Gus and Willow. The trio were almost always together, so Amity had come to expect that if she heard one of them, the rest would be present too. Luz's uniform always intrigued Amity, the different colours seemed to suit Luz to a T, spontaneous and colourful “Well that was a random thought” she thinks to herself and shakes her head slowly. Luz seemed to have captivated her mind over the last few days, it was becoming hard not to glance at the human and remember to look away again.

Amity decided she would much prefer walking alone, given her mind's very muddled and emotional state, she purposely slowed her steps so the trio would be well ahead of her in a few paces.

Once actually on the grounds, Amity realised there was a poster on the walls and headed over. The poster depicted a picture of the Cave of Emotions, one of the crevices located in a crack in the horn on the skull, rumour had it that anyone who entered the seemingly void like darkness would soon have all their thoughts and feelings revealed, but everyone who came out simply said it was too dark to see what was causing the phenomenon, only the bravest dared enter the void like blackness, but few were willing to go into detail as what was spoken of was their own emotions.

Principal Bump was seemingly looking for volunteers to investigate the mysterious site and write a report about the experience, it mentioned extra credit, the instructions indicated she had to have someone willing to go with her. Amity groaned, no one in their right mind would venture into that place with someone else, that was like, just blurting out everything you thought and felt to someone and probably being ridiculed for life.

Despite the potential setback, Amity made a note to ask Bump later about it, for now, she had classes to attend and grades to keep up.

-Lunchtime-

Amity finally had time to reach Bump's office and knock “Come in!” came the ever familiar voice of the Principal.

“Ah, Amity how can I help you today? Is it perhaps the prospect of more extra credit?” Principal Bump asks, Amity swore this man knew her far too well.

“Yes sir, I noticed the poster you had up on the Cave of Emotions, I wanted to know if it was really necessary to have someone else accompanying you during the trip?” Amity asks politely as she approaches the desk.

Bump observes Amity for a moment “I'm afraid so, the terms of this have been discussed and to be sure of the safety of any student, there must be at least two willing to participate, are you interested?”

Amity sighs “You know I wont turn down extra credit sir but...”

“Say no more young lady, It just so happens that someone else has volunteered to go, the two of you can go together!” Bump says in a thrilled tone,like he thought no one would even want to go, making a circle in the air with a finger as he spoke

“Really?! Who?!” Amity asks quickly, just as an excited knock sounds at the door “Hey Principal Bump? I'm being dragged to your office so I’m guessing you wanna see me?”

Amity nearly jumped out of her skin as the sweet voice of Luz rang out from behind the door.

Bump uses a magic circle to open the door and in floats Luz, who had clearly resigned to being dragged here by magic.

“Oh! Hi Amity!” Luz waves happily as she floats by the dumbstruck witch, the magic was supporting her so she had kicked her feet up to sit in the air with her arms folded behind her head and a big goofy grin on her face, barely getting her feet down as Bump releases his magic on her and lets her fall to her feet rather gracefully.

“My apologies for pulling you away from lunch, but we finally have another volunteer for the Cave of Emotions, which means I can allow you to go like you wanted Luz” Bump says with a smile.

Luz's face lit up with excitement “Yes!” she hops up into the air and fist bumps the sky. “Who is it?!” Luz asks quickly.

Amity could barely hold in a giggle at the excitement of the one who had literally floated past her on the way in, this adorable dork just couldn't seem to put two and two together sometimes.

“As you noticed on your way in, Amity is currently asking about the assignment, and as a caring Principal, I have no doubt a trip to soothe your emotions might be good after such a night as the two of you faced with Grom last night, and maybe I can finally get a coherent answer to the burning questions students ask me about this place for once”

Luz turns to Amity and looks somehow even more excited “Amity! We get to go to the cave of Emotions together” she cheers happily.

Amity couldn’t help a small smile before she clears her throat “Principal Bump, there shouldn’t be anything dangerous in the cave right?”

Bump nods his head “There has never been any incident of injury or attacks within the cave, only emotional growth and stability, it is completely safe, even for humans” he adds and gives Luz a single pat on the head as she opens her mouth to probably ask the question he had just answered, Luz simply closes her eyes and grins “This is gonna be so much fun!” she says and surprises Amity with a hug before letting go and grabbing her hand “C’mon! We should go right now!”

Amity was immediately flustered, both from the hug and the quickness of Luz wanting to leave immediately “Wait! We don't even know how to get there!”

Bump clears his throat “Also you still have to finish your school day, you may leave tomorrow, You must simply come to the school gates and bring general supplies like food, water and something warm to wear, it might be safe but it is rumoured to be cold within those walls, I shall teleport us to the location and await your return to return you home again” Bump assured them

Luz deflates a little at not being able to go right away but perks up as they'd be going tomorrow “Yes!” she cheers “Okay, so we meet here tomorrow morning!” she says and happily trots out of the room to probably go tell her friends the good news.

Amity sighs as she watches Luz leave before returning her gaze to Principal Bump who just smiled “Is there anything else Amity?” he asks

“No Sir...”


	2. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two girls begin their own individual preparations for the trip.

Preparations

-Luz-

After an exciting explanation and gleeful reveal that herself and Amity would be going on an adventure, Luz had eagerly returned to class, much too amped up to actually listen, instead of taking notes she had sneakily been drawing her favourite light glyph over and over again, from what Bump had told her when she had run into his office and asked about it, the cave was in perpetual darkness so Light spells would be a must, though he insisted it would be pointless as every witch who entered had tried before to no avail. This did not deter Luz in the slightest, in fact it simply amped her up more at the prospect that her magic might do something different to witches magic, after all it had done so before with the Greater Basilisk.

By the time the final bell had rung, Luz had a huge stack of light glyphs ready for their adventure tomorrow, each one drawn with upmost care, just to be sure it was at its best. Luz packs away her glyphs and heads off, completely oblivious to the sheer panic that her adventure buddy was experiencing.

-Amity-

Of course this would happen, how could it not happen, the universe just wants to mock her some more, first Grom, now this. Amity walks home slowly, head lowered and eyes set on the ground below her feet. “I should have just told Bump I changed my mind.... but then Luz wouldn't get to go... she would have been so disappointed, worse yet she'd know I changed my mind after Bump told us we'd be going together “Oh never mind Sir, I completely changed my mind, don't send me to the cave that literally tells me how I'm feeling with the person whose literally got my feelings tied in knots” she shakes her head “I couldn't do that to her, she was so excited to go, she even hugged me...” 

Amity began to weigh her options, she couldn't just claim she was sick, her parents would demand to know what illness supposedly ailed her enough to avoid extra credit, perhaps.... she could hide her emotions from the cave, that was probably the most challenging thought so far somehow, but... it was all the hope she had.

With a sigh Amity entered the grounds of her home in Blight Manor and, begrudgingly, sought out her older siblings, lately they hadn't hesitated to help with anything Luz related, they seemed fond of her human companion, although she would be teased endlessly no doubt, but she could at least count on them not to tell Luz, they were mischievous pranksters who could sometimes cross the line, but they weren't cruel, crushes were the one line even her siblings wouldn't cross. 

As expected, there was indeed teasing, but, without her even needing to ask, Em and Ed had given their word to not reveal this to anyone, Amity couldn't help the grateful smile she held even as the continued to tease her, they may sometimes be unbearable, but she could at least count on them these few rare times.

-Luz-

Luz opened the door to the Owl House quickly and shut it before Hooty started talking, he had been trying to get sympathy for being beaten up by Amity, though that was his own fault for literally getting in her face, so Luz didn't pay it any mind. Eda was on the couch napping, King came bounding down and happily exclaimed a cute “Weh!” as he hopped into Luz's waiting arms for a hello cuddle “You're back! Its about time!” he says as he puts his paws to his hips and tries to look intimidating even as Luz holds him out in her arms with a smile “Aw, did you miss me?” Luz asks as King wriggles out of her hold “No! Eda has been napping all day cuz she was up all night for Grom and I demand snacks!” King says and points to Luz “Bring me snacks!”

-1 hour later-

Luz stares up at the ceiling, grinning at the thought of a new adventure, but another thought made her smile just as much, another adventure with Amity, the dance had stuck in her head, she was surprised that no one had actually seen it, but Amity had seemed embarrassed so she didn't breathe a word, as far as the others knew, the two had simply combined their magic and formed the awesome cherry blossom tree to defeat Grom. Luz was curious on how much of a spike her plant glyph had increased during that attack, that morning she had only been able to manage a small flower, not to mention Amity's abomination magic also seemed to skyrocket, she knew Amity could make one slightly taller than herself, but this ones back had enough room for two people to dance on.

Luz resigned her thoughts for the night and lays her head back “Maybe I should ask Amity about it tomorrow” she says aloud as she closes her eyes to sleep.


	3. The Cave of Emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Principal Bump brings the girls to the cave, what will they discover inside?

Chapter 3 

The Cave of Emotions

Amity heads towards the gates of the school, it was closed today so she saw no reason to wear her uniform, her black attire probably wouldn't help in the darkness but knowing Luz, she' probably just drag her around by the arm regardless.

It seemed Luz had already arrived, Amity could hear her asking Bump several questions, once in view she could see Luz was also not in uniform, wearing the odd “cat” hoodie as she called it with a strange looking satchel of some kind on her hip.

“Amity!” Luz calls and comes running over. Amity could feel her face flushing a bit and quickly tried to stay composed “Hey Luz!” she said probably a bit loudly but since Luz herself had practically yelled her name, she doubted the other would have noticed. 

“You're finally here! We can go now!” Luz says and, as predicted, grabs her arm to pull her along over to Bump, who merely smiles at the as he watched the exchange.

“Alright you two, now although you are going into this historical place to investigate, I still expect you to treat everything inside with upmost respect and dignity, so please try not to damage anything” he says but very pointedly looks to Luz at the last part, Amity side glances at Luz to see her giving an innocent smile and rubbing the back of her neck with her eyes closed and head tilted to the side a little 

“Now, let me just...” Bump turns and draws a slow, rather large circle which is reflected in front of them as a portal like entrance to what appears to be a cliff edge at first glance. 

Bump carefully steps on through the portal and beckons them forward.

Luz, without a moment of hesitations, bounds through, Bump effortlessly spins a finger to stop the excited girl from running clear over the slowly descending hill that is the titans skull. Luz had reacted at first with a startled yell before realising she was safe and looking around with awe. 

Amity steps through the portal and waits beside Bump as he allows the curious human a glimpse over the edge before carefully bringing her back.

“Do try not to fall off Luz, your mentor would kill me” Bump said in good humour and Luz just gives a thumbs up “I'll be careful”

Bump disperses the portal and turns, raising an arm out behind them “And this” he begins as the two turn “Is the Cave of Emotions” 

Before the two stretched a large crack in the titans colossal horn, if Amity had to compare the size of it, she would estimate it would take 3 slitherbeasts at full height on each others shoulders just to reach the very top of the crack and it was miniscule compared to the size of the horn itself.

Luz was staring at it, just as slack-jawed as Amity was, the post really didn't do the cave justice. Luz was first to step forward, squinting into the void-like blackness and even sticking her hand into it, her hand seemed to be enveloped by the darkness, similarly to sticking ones hand through a pitch black liquid. Luz rears back her hand and takes a step back, looking thoughtfull as she rumages into her pouch and brings out a light glyph, tapping it and holding it in her hand as it once again sank into the blackness, the orb of light seemed to wink out of existence as it entered with her hand, Luz seemed almost disappointed but as she drew her hand back, the orb of light had vanished from her hand. 

Amity had stepped forward to watch and was just as baffled as Luz was.

Bump hadn't been watching, he was magicking himself up a small desk, presumably his own from his office “Now I will be just outside, if anything seems amiss I expect you to exit immediately for your own safety” he instructs and circles his finger, both girls lift their hands as what appears to be a small arrow appears on them “This spell will help you locate the entrance and find your way out again, it should work even within the cave and with the added benefit of you both being able to locate each other if you are separated” Bump continues as he makes some files appear before him and begins writing.

The two girls look at each other, Luz gives Amity a comforting smile and offers her a hand, Amity realised she must have shown her anxiety pretty obviously, but nonetheless she takes the hand offered to her as the two step forward into the void of darkness.

Amity had closed her eyes as they passed through the odd barrier like darkness but when she opened them, there was nothing, at first she felt panicked and wanted to step back into the light of the word, but something held her in place, a hand holding hers “Right, Luz is here too” Amity thinks to herself, taking a deep breath, she felt Luz's hand squeeze hers, as if in reassurance, but when she looked over she could see nothing, no smile, no brown eyes looking back at her, this still unnerved Amity to no end. 

“Amity? You okay?” Came Luz's caring tone, a blessing in the dark silence creeping around them

“Yes, I'm fine” Amity answers, though she really wasn't, this place scared her.

“Why do you lie?” Something whispers.

Amity jumps out of her skin “What was that!?” she says aloud.

“Whoa, Amity!? What was what?” came Luz's worried response, by the way her hand had tightened around Amity's she was probably getting ready to run 

“Someone spoke! You didn't hear it?” Amity demands to the darkness beside her 

“No! I didn't hear anything!” Luz says quickly “Wait... isn't that what this place is supposed to do?” she asks quietly. Amity thought about it for a moment, if Luz could see her face, she would look quite embarrassed.

“I suppose it is but... then why didn't you hear it?”she asks curiously

“Oh! Maybe its all confidential!” Luz exclaims “So like, I won't hear what it says to you and you won't hear what it says to me, my Mami says that's super important in her work so maybe the cave understands it too!” Amity could almost feel Luz bouncing on her feet at the discovery they had made.

“I suppose that could be true...”

“Oh! Maybe we could ask it... them? I'm not really sure what they would want to be classified as...  
I'll stick with them for now, I'm sure if I'm wrong they can just tell me so... if they'll even talk to a human” Luz's voice became nervous a bit by the end of her sentence.

Amity opened her mouth to speak, but before she even sucked in the breath to speak, Luz had squeaked and moved closer “Amity look!” 

Amity felt like face palming “Luz....”

“Oh... right, right” the hand holding hers lifts up and seems to pull towards Luz herself, Amity moves her head in that direction and seemingly in the distance, she could swear that there was the smallest light, well it was either very small or very far away, Amity was unsure since there was absolutely no way to tell.

It took a moment of thought before Amity came to a conclusion “That must be your light orb from before” she says aloud, suddenly Amity felt Luz pull her hand away.

“L-Luz!” she says quickly as her hand moves to try and find the girl again

“One sec!” Luz says and Amity hesitates, she was still right beside her, and now Amity could hear her rummaging, probably trying to find a light glyph again, this time it took longer as the poor girl couldn't tell if what she had was in fact a light glyph.

After a moment there was the sound of a tiny tap and Amity could thank the almighty Titan a thousand times over as, finally, a small orb glowed just a few centimetres away from her, it illuminated very little of the darkness but Amity could just make out Luz's hand and some of her arm, the arm pulls back some and Amity could make out Luz's face, she looked so happy and relieved, staring right at the light for a few seconds before blinking and looking in Amity's direction, then bringing the light down to her hip to rummage once again in her satchel, now with the tiny light source she could see the light glyphs and picked up another one, tapping it with a finger of the other hand and holding out the small orb in Amity's direction. 

Amity reaches out for the orb and kind of scoops it somehow out of Luz's hand and into her own, it seemed to work like any other light orb, she brings it close and she can see her hands once again, this felt far better, she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

When Amity looks up she can see Luz bringing more light glyphs out and letting the orbs go around them, soon they were surrounded by a small gathering of the small light sources, Amity felt much calmer, she didn't let go of the orb Luz had given to her, she could swear it gave off the tiniest amount of warmth even if it was impossible for it to do so.

Once Luz was satisfied by their entourage of light, she glances towards Amity and wordlessly offers her a hand with a bright smile that Amity felt her face flush from “Did she do all this because I was freaking out?” she thinks to herself as she takes Luz's hand and Luz begins heading towards the orb in the distance “No, don't think so selfishly, she just wants to see where she is going” Amity berates herself and keeps her eyes focused on the tiny dot of light, she wonders just how Luz is making these orbs follow them, perhaps her glyphs tended to stick by her in general? No, then the other wouldn't have drifted away like that.... unless it hadn't drifted away.

It felt like they had been walking for an hour, the silence was beginning to worry Amity, wasn't this place supposed to speak to them? Did they have to do something to elicit a response, perhaps they had to speak first? After all it had asked her.... wait it had called her a liar! How dare it accuse her of lying! 

Amity was just about to yell into the abyss when she thought better of it, Luz would want to know hat it had said, it had asked her why she lied... about being okay... at the time she was reassuring Luz but, she really hadn't been okay, the darkness had terrified her, she had been scared, the cave must have known that, it... they or whatever, had known what she had felt and heard what she had said. 

Amity pauses in her light steps and holds Luz back, Luz looks over at her in question.

“I think you had the right idea earlier, when you said about asking... them questions” Amity said quietly “They haven't spoken again since before and I think its because we're being so quiet”

Luz blinks and looks down for a moment with a look of contemplation on her face

“Hey uh, Cave...? Do you have a name we can call you?” Luz calls out after looking up. A few moments of silence passed before Luz jumped out of her skin “Whoa! I heard it!” she says in both startled fear and utter excitement.

“What did it say?” Amity asks quickly, she was curious and a little excited herself.

“They said they don't have a name, but they knew my name” Luz says and looks around.

Amity glances at the light in the distance “Um Cave? Did you take Luz's light orb earlier?”

After a moment of silence Amity assumed she had done it wrong and tried to think of a new way to put it, meanwhile she felt embarrassed for calling out, Luz was watching her expectantly, to see if she got any response, had she offended it? Did she ruin..

“Yes, the light is beautiful, could not resist it” came the same soft whisper as before.

Amity shivers and looks around, then looked at Luz “It... they like your light orbs”

Luz looks delighted “Really? I have a ton more! You can have as many as you like!” Luz calls into the darkness

Amity waits for a moment before her eyes drift to the orb in the distance, though it no longer seemed to be so distant, in fact it seemed to be getting closer to them.

Luz seemed too busy digging into her satchel to notice, she had pulled out a small stack of glyphs and looked around before spotting the light slowly approaching and holding them out with a smile.

“Luz what's...?” Amity starts to ask and takes a step back as the orb draws near

Luz looks over and smiles “Don't worry Amity, they just want some light!” she says, too busy looking at Amity to see the pale hand just visible thanks to the now stilled light orb in front of her.


	4. Indigo eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just what have these two uncovered in this mysterious place?

Chapter 4 

Indigo eyes

Amity recoils as the pale hand comes into view and attempts to pull Luz back with her, but Luz holds firm as her eyes flicker back to the light, a little surprised but still smiling.

The hand hesitates just above the paper “It's okay, you just have to tap it” Luz explains and shows them by using her thumb to tap the top glyph and letting the small orb float up.

The hand carefully reaches out to scoop the light into it and pulls it close, revealing a slight peak at whoever was before the two of them.

The hand was, thankfully attached to a normal looking arm, it was bare but thankfully the same was not true of the small part of the individuals torso, they wore a blank white shirt covered by some kind of tunic? Or perhaps something similar to Luz's “hoodie” in terms of material.

Amity was still a step away, ready to pull Luz away at any sign of danger, though Luz clearly saw no danger in this individual perhaps they were still speaking to Luz.

Amity watches the pale hand reach forward again, this time though, it taps the stack itself and, unlike Luz's orbs, the orb glows a soft indigo colour, reflecting the users magic, this orb did not give off as much light as Luz's did, but it was still beautiful to watch it glow gently against the pale skin of the hand holding it. 

Luz lifts her head in silence for a moment before smiling and nodding “Sure!” she says and releases Amity's hand “Sorry Amity I just need my hand for a second” she says and uses it to bap the stack of glyphs before tossing all the paper into the air, each and every one of the small slips of paper creates a large orb of light, the light seemed amplified in each and every one due to the multiplied casting, and now the area around the three of them had been lit up enough to get a good look at the individual before them.

Amity stares at this odd being, to say their appearance was ambiguous was an understatement, there was no definable gender to this being, their ears implied that they were in fact a witch, being just as pointed as Amity's were, their eyes were a shockingly bright shade of indigo, while their hair was a few shades darker of indigo, their features seemed almost like a rough idea of what one would think an average body should look like, they weren't thin but they weren't well rounded either, they weren't muscular but they didn't lack muscles, their height would be somewhere around the same as Edric's. Amity had seen their tunic and top already but they also wore black leggings, they wore sandals which may have been home made, their hair was surprisingly long, almost down to their waist.

Amity let out a breath after a moment of observing the person carefully for any sign of a threat, ready to use Bump's arrow to escape if need be, but for now, this person showed absolutely no hostility, their eyes were locked onto Amity's orb that she held, almost defensively, close to her chest. 

After a moment, the person's eyes shifted to look into Amity's, the entire time their expression was completely void of anything, but once their eyes met, they seemed to light up sightly, like all of Amity's own emotions were running through their mind, after a moment of silence.

“You are hiding your feelings behind others” came the soft whisper, Amity still couldn't define where the voice came from, but she did see that the persons mouth didn't move.

“I am not” Amity says quietly, but obviously in the complete silence Luz hear her loud and clear “Not what?” she asks curiously “Nothing Luz, sorry they are speaking to me” Amity explains as she glances at the other girl, but felt her heart melt a little at the curious smile and bright eyes, quickly turning her head back forward and once again meeting the indigo eyes of the person before her, feeling her face darken red a bit.

“Your siblings seem to be influencing some of your emotions, though it hinders my sight of them, it does not make you any harder to read, though I understand your apprehension, but I will quell your fear, I will not speak to Luz of any feelings of yours, no matter what kind they are, so please, allow your brother and sister back their emotions” 

Amity absorbs this information carefully, in the back of her mind, she knew the two very distinct emotions were trying their best to keep Amity's own feelings hidden, Amity closes her eyes and focuses on them carefully, gently nudging them, they stopped, before gently withdrawing, but not without giving her just a little of their courage, she really did appreciate their efforts even if they hadn't quite worked, they had helped keep her a lot calmer than she would have been otherwise and she hadn't made half of a fool of herself with their help, she would have to thank them properly later, after she inevitably had to spill the beans on all of this as well.

Those indigo eyes were still on Amity as she opened them again, but there was the inkling of a smile on their face.

Luz had silently crept away and was now lighting glyphs up and letting them float all around the cave, possibly trying to light up the entire area.

Amity glances over to see Luz jogging around with the biggest smile on her face, throwing light orbs all around herself happily, Amity couldn't resist a small smile as she watches the Latina having a great time. 

“Her emotions are so radiant, it is hard not to become captivated, she brings light to everyone around her, even to those who don't at first seek it” comes the whisper to Amity's ear

“She's a very nice person yes” Amity replies quietly

“This is not hat I speak of” comes a swift reply.

Amity turns to the person a little confused, raising a brow “Then what did you mean?”

Those indigo eyes follow Luz carefully as she runs around happily 

“To bring light to the life of another does not come with simply being “happy” it means to give hope, kindness and someone thinks is beyond what they can have sometimes just a chance at something” The indigo eyes meet Amity's for a moment “You were denied your individuality by your parents, they chose who you could interact with and befriend, they attempted to mould you into them, but despite all that pressure, you still kept yourself hidden away, hoping someone would find you, send you just a spark of hope, that they would want to know who you were, then Luz appeared, she showed you that spark you had been waiting for”

Amity blinks and looks down at the orb shimmering in her hand, she still remembered staring deeply into the light spell Luz had first created for her way back at the covention, she never had seen it cast like that, it had fascinated her, enough to even dissolve the oath they had made to prevent Luz from learning magic, it had earned her respect, but it had been Luz pushing to become her friend that had lead Amity to where she was now.

Luz came over to them again, it seemed she had run out of glyphs and was sitting on the ground sketching more in the concentrated light of their small circle.

“She wants to light up the entire cave for me.... her tenacity seems limitless when it comes to others, but her own feelings... they often get put to the side, I cannot tell you much but I can say for sure, she is also waiting for a spark, just not in the same way as you were, the life before was full of others telling her she was too different, too weird, so she clung to the weird, the fantasy, now she lives it, but there is still the doubts of before, perhaps you can help her too” 

Amity listens carefully to the whisper and watches Luz drawing her glyphs with such care and concentration, it was hard to look away. 

“Hey Luz? Would you... like help drawing those?” Amity asks quietly, if it weren't for that little bit of bravery her siblings had left her, she didn't think she could have worked up enough of her own courage to even ask, well, not without stuttering and blushing the whole time. Luz looks up from a half finished glyph in utter shock, before a huge grin spreads across her face and she nods “Sure!”

Luz digs into her pouch and brings out more spare blank paper, a extra pen and a copy of the glyph, Amity sits by her and takes the items, carefully setting the glyph before her so she could attempt to replicate it.

As someone who drew a lot, Amity didn't have too much trouble getting the circle almost as perfect as Luz's, overall she only improved the more she did, soon she was even on par with Luz's own glyphs. 

After some time Luz stopped drawing, though Amity was still focused on it and hadn't noticed Luz looking up at the Indigo person who had sat before them and now locked eyes with Luz, in a silent, one sided conversation. Once Amity had run out of paper she had looked up and realised something was going on, Luz was rubbing tears out of her eyes while the indigo person looked at her empathetically. 

“Luz?”

“Oh! Sorry Ami, I just....” Luz stops as the indigo person puts a hand on her shoulder and presumably speaks to her again “I... We were just talking about some stuff” Luz admits and rubs her arm “But don't worry! Now we can get back to lighting this cave up!” she says and grabs their stack of glyphs and heads to a dark spot in the cave to begin.

Amity looks at the indigo person, it was getting kind of tedious to call them that “You really should have a name” Amity says, possibly a bit loudly as Luz glances over to them.

The indigo eyes look back at Amity, thoughtful as they narrowed a little

For the first time, both the girls heard the whisper, evidenced by them both looking surprised as the voice whispers 

“Indigo”


	5. "What Happens Now?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So what happens now?

“What Happens Now?”

It had become apparent that Luz really did intend to light up the entirety of the cave, it felt like they had been inside the cave for hours and Amity began to wonder exactly what time it was, but when she attempted to summon her scroll to see, it simply didn't appear.

“Ah, spell circles don't work here” Amity observes as her attempt fizzles out before her

“No, I'm afraid they do not” Indigo replies calmly, watching Luz running around happily, 

Luz had found one of the edges of the cave and was meticulously placing light orbs at a certain distance apart using her feet as a guide.

1, 2, 3 steps and another light is placed to hang in the air and light up that section of the wall. Luz had been doing this so long that Amity could swear she should be physically exhausted by now, yet it seemed like she wasn't anywhere near halfway or even a quarter of the way finished.

Indigo sat with Amity as they watched the human go at her task. 

“Do you know how long we have been in here?” Amity asks quietly 

“You both entered this cave 3 hours ago” Indigo confirms

“Only 3? I could swear its been almost 6!” Amity replies, looking surprised

“Time does not pass as quickly here as it does outside, I cannot explain it nor do I want to attempt to, what I can tell you for sure is that you have only been here 3 hours for the outside world, your teacher still remains diligent outside, though after another hour he will attempt to make contact to ensure your safety, you also needn't worry of Luz's well being, this cave acts as an energy source for those within it, she may run, walk, dance or jump as much as she sees fit and will never grow weak or tired from it” Indigo explains carefully “Nor will you're magical bile be depleted, thought it is currently unusable regardless”

“That's another thing I wanted to ask, why doesn't my magic work while Luz's glyphs do?”

Indigo seems to think over this carefully “I am unsure, no magic has ever managed to create light within this cave, for as long as I have existed, there has never been a witch capable of bringing light to this cavern before now, that's why I was surprised when Luz passed an orb through the entrance, I admit I got so excited to see light, I just took it when she started to take it away, I was.... scared that I'd never get to see it again” Indigo looks down at the small light orb in their hand 

“Then you two came in, I didn't want to let the light go, even if it meant you both seeing me, I was more scared to lose it than to let myself be seen, then Luz made more, I could see you both, I mean I could already sense you both but being able to see you? It was.... otherworldly, then that kind-hearted girl offered to give me more light” Indigo turns to find Luz again, the excitable human had made such progress in the time they had been talking, it looked like she was about a tenth of the way around the horn by now, still going strong.

“So.... What happens now?”   
“Now?” Indigo asks before looking back at Amity “You two came here to, I would assume, come to peace with something, you wished to earn extra credit to remove the ever lingering judgement of your parents from your shoulders for a little longer, Luz.... I cant really discuss what she wanted from this trip but she's in no hurry to leave, in fact she's on her way back to us already” 

As if on cue, Luz plops down beside them with a glum expression “I'm all out of paper” she says and slumps her head against her hand with a pout. 

Amity smiled sympathetically at Luz “Well, no one said you had to do it all in one day” she reminds Luz gently, who visibly brightens “Wait... do you think we can come back?!” she asks and balls up her fists under her chin in a cute excite way as she stares between the two of them.

Indigo blinks slowly, Amity assumed they is speaking to Luz privately, since Luz gives a huge out of nowhere grin and throws her arms up with a cheer.

“I would be more than happy to have you both return” Amity hears once Indigo returns their attention to her, Amity smiles before a thought comes to her “Wait, if others come in, they'll notice the light orbs, and you” she says carefully.

Indigo nods “Yes, they will, no doubt once word gets out that some form of light is available I will become a target, but you two are the first to come here in a long time, well... a long time for me, I believe it has been several years in your time” 

Amity thinks carefully for a moment “Have you, ever tried to leave?” she asks slowly, carefully.

Luz, not being in on the discussion, lifts her head in confusion at Amity before glancing curiously at Indigo as they shook their head

“No, I have not attempted to leave, to find the entrance alone is complex, to find the courage to step out of it... takes a lot more time” Indigo explains carefully, Luz must have also heard because she looked down with a determined expression at her hand with the arrow pointing to the exit.

Amity knew that look all to well, this was Luz thinking hard about how to help someone in need, despite popular opinion, Luz was not as dense as people thought her to be, if this girl sets her mind to something, you can be sure she will do everything in her power to do it, even if the results are a sloppy mess, 

Luz looks up at Indigo “We can help guide you to the exit, we can just tell Bump you got lost trying to explore on your own, you can come to the owl house with me! Eda won't mind at all!” Luz says with such determination and vigour that Amity wondered where she stored all this positivity.

Indigo gives Luz what looks to be a half smile, its probably her best attempt so far at mimicking their facial expressions.

“I thank you Luz but I do not know if I could return here after being tempted out into your world”

Luz looks down before asking “Why would you have to come back? No ones watching you, no ones dragging you back or making you feel guilty about leaving”

Amity began to feel like this wasn't all just about Indigo, especially as Indigo stopped speaking to the both of them and focused on Luz. 

Amity watched as Luz glared at the floor for a while, occasionally shaking her head or replying with a “Why?” or a “No” The Latina seemed to get more frustrated and eventually sighs and lets her head hang down for a moment “Its not fair though, there's a whole world out there that you never get to see and your stuck here in the darkness”

“No, I am here, with all these lights, the lights you brought here, the lights you decided to share with me, what's more you're even planning to visit me again to bring more, Luz, I don't need to see what's beyond my cave, not right now, for now, this is the happiest I have been for as long as I can even remember” Indigo reaches out a hand to gently nudge Luz to look up at them

“Please, don't leave being sad that I am not leaving with you, leave knowing that you have done something amazing for me that I will cherish for all of my days and nights, leave with the hope that someday I will be ready to walk out with you, just not today”

Luz's eyes had welled up significantly at what Indigo had said and she launches forward to hug them tightly. Indigo did not hug Luz back, but that was simply because they had no idea what Luz was doing, even glancing towards Amity, possibly looking for instructions, Amity made a motion with her arms that Indigo copied and ended up hugging Luz back loosely.

After a moment Luz lets go, wiping her eyes and sitting in silence for a moment before glancing towards Amity “What do we tell Bump?” 

This gave Amity pause, that was the point to coming here, to discover new things about the cave of emotions, but know they knew what was causing the phenomenon, neither of them really wanted to tell anyone, Indigo would be in serious danger if word got out that it was a witch who couldn't preform magic in the cave but could be easily outnumbered and dragged out against their will to do titan knows whose bidding.

“We probably cant tell Bump any of this, he would want to publish our findings, the only undamaging report we can make is Indigo's confidentiality and even that might not be a good idea, because people might wonder how a cave could preform such a feat, it would make people curious enough to possibly start coming back regularly, the most we could say is what Indigo helped us with personally” Amity says as she mulls it over carefully. 

Indigo watches the two before them carefully “That is not necessarily true, you could inform him of the difference in the times, the fact that the cave can replenish magic bile and keep an individual energised and healthy for as long as they are present, you can inform him of these things without revealing my presence just due to the simple fact of how long you have been within the cave and the fact that Luz is still brimming with energy despite running almost the entirety of the cave several times” 

Luz and Amity look at each other, being sure the other heard the words as well, Amity began to feel her nervousness returning, the twins courage was beginning to dwindle in her mind as her old habits began creeping back in, she wasn't able to glance at Luz for more than a few seconds without turning her head away for fear Luz would see the creeping blush blooming on her face at the intensity of Luz's eye contact.

“Yeah! We at least have that stuff, I don't think Bump mentioned any of that!” Luz says and practically jumps to her feet to bounce up and down. 

Amity stood a little more gracefully along with Indigo, who now wore their half smile once again 

“A-Alright, so we have our report worked out, but, how is it we get back here? Bump brought us this time but he may get suspicious if we keep asking to come back” Amity says shyly as Luz stands beside her grinning

“Oh I can borrow Owlbert and fly us here! I'm getting really good at flying a staff now!” Luz exclaims “It's not like we can get lost right?!” she says happily.

Amity covers her mouth to giggle, that was true, it certainly wouldn't be hard to find the cave again.

“Or maybe Eda knows a teleportation spell or a portal spell like Bump used to et us here” Luz continues as she sees the excited spark coming back full force into Luz's eyes.

A small flash on the girls hands made the two glance down, the arrows on their hands were flashing brightly “Looks like Bump's calling us back” Luz says and looks at Indigo, who reaches out a hand to pat and ruffle her hair, very similarly to how Amity had seen Eda do on some occasions, this brought another smile to Luz's face. 

Indigo glances at Amity 

“Do not worry Amity, I will always be here if you need to talk to someone, no matter what it is about” Amity felt a small smile and a blush grace her face as Indigo put a hand to her shoulder

“Come, let us not keep your principal waiting any longer, he is growing more anxious the longer you take”

Bump paced outside the entrance to the cave, it had been quite some time since the two students had entered, they had been inside much longer than most dared to stay, as he was about to spin a spell to make their arrows glow again, he saw the two finally emerge, unharmed and smiling.

Amity watches as a look of relief graces Bump's features for a moment before he resumes his normal smile and approaches “Well students I hope you have something to report for such a long expedition” he says and raises a brow expectantly

“We learned some interesting facts, sadly the source of the voice still remains unknown” Amity relays 

“But we know time goes a lot slower inside the cave than outside, we were in there for like 6 hours!” Luz says as she bounces on her heels 

“And magic circles don't activate within the cave, not just for light but for anything else as well, I tried to summoning my scroll for light but it didn't do anything at all” Amity adds on

“And I know I ran around that place a lot but no matter how much I ran, I didn't get tired, or hungry, or even thirsty, it's like the whole place was keeping me fit and healthy the entire time I was there!” 

Bump listens carefully to the two students as they explain their new findings and smiles at all the new knowledge, though they were already aware of light spells being ineffective, the fact that no spell circles worked was also an interesting piece to note as well.

“Well I'd say you two did a fine job, even if you didn't find out what is truly the source, these findings will be most useful, most deserving of some extra credit I'd say, now lets get you two back” Bump says and opens the portal once again. 

-Amity-

Amity walks carefully up to her room, opening the door and fully expecting the two individuals sitting there waiting for her return, though she hadn't expected them to be asleep, Emira was sitting at her small desk, dozing on her arms while Edric lay on the carpet with his feet up on her bed, hands behind his head. 

Amity walks over to Edric first, gently shaking his shoulder to rouse him, Edric grumbles and tries to ave her off, but Amity simply pokes him instead and he opens his eyes to her smirking at him, Edric nearly jumps out of his skin, not to mention yelping loud enough to wake Emira up, who jumps up from the desk in surprise while Amity giggles and dodges Edrics legs as they swing haphazardly off the bed so he can sit up.

“What happened?” The two asked in sync, both sets of golden eyes on Amity as she move around the room and sets thing back where they should be, presumably the twins got bored and moved things around a bit.

“A lot, I don't even know where to start, but first, you both have to swear that not a word of this leaves this room” Amity says as she sits on her bed and points between the two of them. The twins smirk in unison but before they speak Amity continues “I am deadly serious guys, this isn't just about me and Luz any more, there's... something else that if word gets out... some really bad things could happen, you have to swear!” Amity says, her eyes set on theirs as the two stare at her with slightly worried expressions before both stood up and drew a circle in front of themselves, both putting their hand through their individual circles towards Amity.

Amity felt a smile cross her face and took their hands to shake them slowly as their spells worked and disappeared “We swear”

“Alright... then I guess I'll start at the beginning...”

-Luz-

“And then we left! But I need so much more paper for the next time I go, I wanna make sure they never have to sit in the dark again!” Luz says as she paces in front of Eda and King, whose heads follow her as she goes back and forth in front of them.

“So, lemme get this straight” Eda says as she rests her chin on her fist “You find out that this cave had a hyper-empathic being who you say wants to be called Indigo, speaks by whispering in your head and had never set foot outside this cave and you didn't tell your principal any of it?”

Luz stops pacing and looks at Eda “Yes?”

“That's my girl!” Eda says and pumps her fists in the air with pride “It's probably best that you didn't tell that old guy anything important, doesn't sound like that kid would know how to defend themselves out here, so they live in that cave, no food or water required, time moving half as slowly as ours does, no magic but yours works and its in perpetual darkness, meh, no idea what any of that could mean, but hey, next time you try to invite someone over, at least let it be someone who can't read me like a book okay? Empaths are tricky, while this one seems good, its probably due to their complete isolation from this society, I mean, imagine if they went to your school, the sheer number of emotions running high, anxiety, stress, fatigue, anger, depression, all that in one go could destroy an empath” 

Luz was watching Eda as she spoke, carefully absorbing all of this information “Hmm, I didn't think about that, I guess that's another reason they probably don't want to leave the cave” 

“Now, I get why you offered them this place, its quiet, out of the way, no too many people to read nearby, but also remember that the emperors guild is always after me, might not be the best place to hide an empath FROM the Emperor” Eda explains “But enough about all that, did you get the answers you were hoping for?” 

Luz sighs softly “Well...” she says and rubs her arm “I'm not so sure about one of the things, but the other was, kinda helpful, We were lucky Indigo didn't discuss the others feelings to us, I mean, can you imagine if they just turned and asked Amity how she felt about me?” Luz chuckles nervously.

Eda smirks and shakes her head slowly “Nah kid, any halfway decent empath should never cause hurt in another's mind, though I am still surprised, I was sure all the empath bloodlines were gone a long time ago, I mean I know about them because I studied everything I could my hands on back in the day, stuff about empaths isn't exactly easy to come by, but you were right about people probably wanting to take her away if word got out...”

Luz cut off Eda's train of thought with a loud yawn “Geez kid did all that running around finally hit you?” Eda asks as she notices Luz starting to slump forward, about to fall asleep on her feet. Eda casts a circle and Luz is lifted into the air and floated to bed “Get a good rest Kiddo, We can talk more about all this in the morning”

-Amity-

“So, our spell basically did nothing?” Emira asks, a little disappointed.

“I wouldn't say that, it certainly helped me keep a lot calmer than if it wasn't there, you have no idea how dark it was in there” Amity replies quietly “You couldn't see anything, I cant imagine going in there while its that dark again” 

“Well at least we did something!” Edric says happily with a big proud grin on his face “So you said Luz was going back? Are you going back too? Can we come this time?!” he continues.

Emira brightens at that and they both look expectantly at Amity “I don't know, Luz said about borrowing her mentors staff, I don't think it could fly all four of us there, especially since her mentor might actually want to come along too” she explains carefully

The twins looked thoughtful “I guess that's a no then, besides I doubt Mom would let us just disappear for a day without an explanation” Edric says “But if you go back you gotta tell us what happens!” Emira adds quickly. 

Amity smiles and nods “I will, I owe you two at least that much” she says “Aw Mittens owes us” the two say in a sing song tone and earn themselves a light smacking with several pillows as they laugh and run out the door.

-The Next Evening-

“Mittens! Have you seen Ed anywhere?” Emira calls into Amity's room from the hallway “I havent seen him since yesterday”

Amity looked up from staring at the cast on her leg “What? Yesterday?!” she asks aloud

“Yeah! Usually I cant get him off my side, but now he's just up and disappeared, he cant have broken curfew I saw him in bed last night” 

Amity raises a brow “You saw him? You didn't check that it might be an illusion?” she asks in disbelief.

“Since when does he use those on me?” Emira asks as she opens the door, pausing “How's the leg doing?” “Same, painful, but the healing glyphs should have it healed soon enough, as for why he snuck out... maybe he's finally trying to be more independent, isn't that what you wanted him to do?” 

“Well yeah but he could have al least said where he was going” Emira says in frustration “You know what he's like, how long ago was it he wanted to eat snow with the owl lady, worse yet he wanted to eat a wild bat for dinner!” 

Amity sighs, he brother was... quirky sometimes, even she couldn't contest that, being without Emira usually made him nervous, so whatever drove him to go off on his own must have been pretty important. “Maybe he has a crush on someone” she adds quietly which gave Emira pause “Now that.... that might explain it” she admits “he was acting funny last night at dinner, when it was finished he practically ran to his room, stayed in there all evening and when I checked on him he was asleep, or maybe it was an illusion”

Another thought crept into Amity's mind “You don't think he went to the cave of emotions do you?” she asks quickly, remembering how eagerly he had asked about going “No, no, how would he even get there? And why wouldn't he tell me?, I wanted to go too” 

“Yeah you're right, its not like he would just try to walk there....”

“....”

“....”

“Dammit he's probably walking there right now isn't he?”

-That Night-

“Amity! Emira!” Luz says as she opens the door

“Sorry Luz, Ed is missing, we are trying to find him but we've looked all over town...”

“Oh, he's here!” Luz says and beckons them inside.

Amity and Emira blink for a moment before Emira walks in while helping Amity inside.

Ed was in fact inside, sitting on the couch and swinging his legs happily, looking oblivious to the two scowling witches

“We found him about half an hour ago, seems he stupidly got himself stung by a Forgetme Wasp” Eda explains as she brings the adorable idiot something “Here, drink this and don't argue” she hands the small cup to Ed, who silently drinks it before handing her back the cup, but still looks just as oblivious “It'll take an hour for that stuff to start working, he must have gone pretty far north to find one of those things, they ain't native to this area, much closer to the skull”

Amity and Emira shared a look as they looked at their brother.

Ed looked around and spotted then, grinning brightly “Hello!” he says with a wave. 

“He better have a good explanation for this” Amity murmurs quietly to herself as Emira helps guide her to the couch to sit on the opposite side of Ed.

Ed watches the two with a genuine smile “That nice lady says I've lost my memories, I'm sorry if I know you and I just don't remember yet, I'm sure the normal me will be back soon” 

Emira sighs “I sure hope the normal you remembers what happened before this” 

“Oh, well I know that too!” Ed says “I was uh.... I was at the skull.... I think I was.... trying to get to the horn, but the only way up was to climb, my magic wasn't strong enough to get me all the way up, so I tried to climb up using these weird little ledge things, but then these insects came out of them an stung me, then I fell, but something caught me, the next thing I knew I was here, just outside this nice place” Ed says as all those present listen 

“Something caught you? What could have possibly caught you and brought you back here? Wait how long did it take you to get to the skull?” Emira asks

“Oh I don't know that far back, sorry, I just know about getting there and trying to get up to the horn apparently” Ed clarifies

“Mother and Father would be furious if we came back with him like this, we'll have to wait till he remembers himself” Amity says quietly, she hadn't realised Luz had taken a seat next to her “Hey! We could do some book club stuff!” she says.

Amity yips and slides a few centimetres away from Luz in surprise, wincing slightly as her leg bumps along the floor “Uh, sure!” she says with a smile and a blush, Luz beams at her “Ill go get my books!” she cheers and literally books it up the stairs to her room.

Amity puts a hand to her heart and breathes out loudly. King walks past her “Kid you are not subtle at all” he comments on his way past her to the kitchen.

Amity glares at the weird skull dog demon before looking down at her feet. 

Emira pats Amity's shoulder before looking back at Ed, who was happily swinging his legs again, she remembered he used to do that all the time when he was happy, till Mom and Dad scolded him for it “A blight does not do such undignified movements!” were their mothers exact words, he had only been 5 years old, they had learned pretty quickly that to get their parents approval, they had to act like their parents did, well Emira had, Edric just kind of, followed her lead.

Luz returned with her books and set them on the table “Which one should we start with?” she asks with excitement. Amity looks at the books for a moment, trying to hide her flustered appearance.

“Uhm, number 1 maybe?” she squeaks out and Luz nods “Sure!”

-1 Hour later-

“Gah!” Ed sat up straight and looked around quickly “What? How did I?” his eyes land on his two sisters who had turned to look at him from whatever they had ben doing “Ehehe, Hi?” 

“Edric Blight I swear I am going to end you” Emira growls as she grabs his ear to pull him back as he tries to scramble away.

“Ow-ow-ow okay okay” Edric says quickly, Edric holds his hands up in surrender, Emira lets go of his ear “What were you thinking?” she demands crossly 

“I thought I could.... convince Indigo to leave their cave so they would be safe from people going in” Ed says and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly 

“And why did you go alone?” Amity asks sharply “Because I knew Em would talk me out of going or just stop me altogether” Ed says and folds his arms “You always think my ideas are dumb, why would this one have been any different?” 

Emira gaps at him for a moment “It wasn't any different! You WALKED to the skull and tried to climb up it using Forgetme wasp nests!” 

“Oh! is that what they were?” 

“Edric!”

“What? I'm alive aren't I?”

“Yes! But not because you did anything smart, someone had to save you, we don't even know who it was” 

Edric blinks and stares at them all for a moment “Wait you... you dont know who it was?” he said it almost like he DID know.

“No, should we?”

“Well kinda, they're right outside”

Everyone within the room stared at Ed like he was mad, all except Luz who gets up to peek out a window “Wait... is that...”


	6. "Don't eat that!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A whole lot of stuff happens, you'll get no hints from me XD

Chapter 5

“Don't eat that!”

“Viney?!” Luz calls out the door as she spots the griffon riding dual tracker flying on Puddle around the Owl house tower.

“Hey Luz, did the dummy finally get his memories back?” Viney calls as her and Puddles land a significant ways off

“Yeah Ed is back, why didn't you land and say something?” Luz calls and starts walking over

“Your weird bird tube thing spooked Puddles so bad she wouldn't listen to me, she just dropped the guy and flew off with me” Viney says and dismounts Puddles, who warbled anxiously and tried to grab the girls hood as she started towards the owl house “Hoot! You don't have to worry about me Hoot Hoot!” Hooty says but that just makes Puddles hiss at him , but that meant she had let go of Viney, who quickly jogs over to Luz, who had moved away from Hooty.

“Glad to hear the guys okay, he coulda really gotten hurt if those things got any more annoyed at him, Forgetme wasps aren't known for being forgiving” Viney says 

“I'm just glad you were nearby, wait... why were you there?” Luz asked 

Viney smirks a bit and puts her hand on her hip “Me and Puddles were heading there to study the same wasps, then we saw him trying to climb on their nests and we kinda just, scooped him up, he definitely got stung so I knew Lord Calamity could help him with an antidote, he's one of the Blights so I figured it'd be better to bring him here than to take him somewhere official where they might ask a lot of questions, he might've gotten in a lot of trouble and he seemed like an okay guy on the flight back, heck for someone who just got stung like 10 times he was kinda ecstatic to be getting carried off by a griffon” Viney says with a chuckle.

Luz smiles brightly “Well you should come on in, its getting pretty dark”

Viney looks back at Puddles, who was still flaring at Hooty “Mmm, it's probably too dark to fly home now, Puddles is probably exhausted, even if she wont show it, is there somewhere she can rest for an hour? Preferably away from the bird tube”

Luz looks back at the house, glancing up at the broken tower “She could probably rest up there, Hooty should leave her alone”

Viney nods and makes a gesture to Puddles, who stops glaring at Hooty, glancing up at the tower and slowly flying up to rest atop it and out of sight.

Luz and Viney head back into the Owl house.

Emira was still scowling at Edric who was now self-consciously hugging himself, not meeting her eye as he leaned against the back of the couch.

“Hey guys, this is Viney, she's a double tracker, like me!” Luz says “Actually Luz your in all the tracks, I'm only in two” Viney says and playfully punches Luz's shoulder, who just grins in return.

Everyone looks at Viney “Hey uh, thanks for saving my idiot of a brother” Emira calls over 

“No problem, happy to help” Viney says and sends her a smile with closed eyes, not seeing Emira blush just a little before turning her head away. 

“Yeah, thanks” Ed says honestly, ignoring Emira's insult and giving Viney a genuine smile “It as fun meeting Puddles” Viney chuckles “She warmed up to you real quick, sorry she dumped you on the ground like that, that bird tube really freaked her out when it came out at us like that”

“It's fine, Hooty caught me anyways” Ed assures her 

“So what were you doing up at the skull all alone? Everyone knows that a pretty dangerous place to be, so most people avoid it” Viney asks as Luz leads her over to the others to sit down.

“Uuuuuuuuuh” Ed glances from side to side, the everlasting oath meant he couldnt say the real truth but there were very few reasons for someone to be up there, let alone convincing ones that Viney may believe.

“I was.... sleepwalking!” he says after a moment.

Viney deadpans at him with both eyebrows raised but Ed manages to hold his grin, he was far too convincing with his look of innocence, thankfully Emira butted in 

“Yeah, we were staying up there for the weekend in our parents summer house, they wanted rid of us for the weekend for some work stuff and this dummy has a habit of going titan-knows-where in his sleep, sometimes I find him asleep on the kitchen table standing up” this made Viney snort and Edric blush from embarrassment, but he sends Emira a somewhat thankful look for getting all the attention off him and the subject for now.

Three distinct buzzing sounds could be heard, the twins and Amity all summoned their scrolls and winced in unison “Mom and Dad want us back home asap, I guess their uh, business stuff is over now” Edric says with a strained smile as all three got up “Yeah we should really get going” Emira says and helps Amity stand up.

Luz stands to help Amity as well which causes Amity to turn fully red and look anywhere but to her left as they head for the door, once outside the three begin trekking home slowly, none of them were looking forward to the upcoming confrontation.

“Just tell them I snuck out, this is all my fault anyways, I thought my clone would stay longer, you two shouldn't get in trouble for me” Ed says as they walk up to the gate.

“Not a chance” Amity mutters and Emira nods “We knew we would be in trouble if we went looking for you, we'll just tell them we snuck out together to train Mittens, we stick to that like glue, don't give them any reason to doubt its not the truth”

-Luz-

“So Luz, you live with Lord Calamity?” Viney asks with a smirk “I knew you were a troublemaker at heart” she says and elbows Luz playfully, making Luz laugh

“Yeah, but only accidental troublemaking happens” Luz says back and they laugh, Eda pops her head around the corner “Someone say my old nickname?”

“Hey Eda, this is Viney, one of the other Dual tracking students I told you about” 

“Ah, you helped Luz beat the magic outta that basilisk huh? And you found my old study room, glad to see its still getting good use after all these years” Eda says as she walks in, seemingly reminiscing

“Yeah, it was great for when we got thrown in the detention track, I learned a lot, but now its just kinda a hangout for me and my friends since Bump relaxed his rules on dual tracking” Viney says with a grin.

“Ah detention, double tracking, you nd I will get on just fine kid” Eda says “But now I should probably get back to that potion I was making, can only leave those things boiling so long before they get antsy” Eda says and walks back to the kitchen.

Luz and Viney proceeded to talk about school for a while and what classes they hd attended, Luz was due to attend a beast keeping class the next day “Just remember not to touch ANYTHING until the teacher gives the go ahead, you never know, even the cutest beasts could really hurt you” Viney warns as she gets up to head off “I should probably go, my Dad'll wanna know what happened and I'll have to come up with something to tell him, somehow I don't think he'll buy that I saved a sleepwalking blight from Forgetme wasps” she says with a chuckle.

“Okay well make sure you get home safely!” Luz says as Viney heads out the door with a wave.

-Amity-

The three Blight children walked up the stairs slowly, after a thorough chiding from their parents about the importance of their curfew and subsequent grounding and an even tighter curfew for a week, the three felt exhausted. 

Amity opens her door and hobbles inside and was about to close it when she noticed Ed was standing watching her, Emira slammed her door down the hall which made him wince, Ed rubs his arm and looks at the floor “I'm sorry I made you worry” he says quietly and walks slowly to his room.

Amity blinks in surprise, watching her dejected looking brother walk down the hall, he glances half-heartedly at Em's door but just sighs and goes into his own room.

-The next morning-

Amity wakes up to the sound of Emira yelling in the corridor, from the few words she could understand, it seemed as if Ed had yet again disappeared on her, Amity groans and gets up to hobble to the door, glancing at the clock, their parents were out of the house for at least an hour so they were safe from another “talk”

Once Amity got dressed and peeked outside she saw Emira pacing with a note in her hands “Em? What's wrong?” she asks quickly

“He's gone there again!” she yells and hands Amity the note, in Ed's usual scrawled writing it explained that he wanted to try again and not to worry about him this time, he claimed he could be back before curfew and he would avoid the wasps.

“I am going to KILL him” Emira says and storms to the stairs, before pausing and looking back at Amity, who looks down at her cast “Hang on” Emira says and walks over to give her a hand 

“Maybe we can ask Luz to fly us there” Amity says quickly 

“Sounds like the best plan we have, lets head over there and see if its okay with her first” Emira says, neither one of them noticed the tiny green bat nestled in Emira's hood.

-Luz-

“He went there again? Man, and I thought I was determined” Luz says as they fly through the air, Luz was up front flying the staff with Amity holding her shoulders and Emira behind her.

The two had explained rather quickly and asked if Luz could take them there to retrieve Edric before he got himself hurt again, Emira was cursing him every so often under her breath.

“Sorry for pulling you out here Luz” Amit says while hiding her face behind Luz so she couldn't see her blush over something as small as holding her shoulders

“Its not a problem Amity, I was planning to come back anyways to light up the cave some more, I brought a ton more glyphs with me this time, since time moves so much slower in there, we can spend twice as long before we have to head back!” she says excitedly 

Emira was silent for most of this, glaring ahead at the skull as if it were the cause of everything that was happening. 

It took several hours to fly to the skull, they got there around noon, landing safely on the flattest part of the skull by the huge crack in the horn.

“Finally” Emira says and gets off the broom “He wasn't anywhere down bellow so he must be up here” she murmurs 

“You are correct!” came a voice from behind Emira but when she looked there was nothing, she turns back to be face to face with Edric.

Emira screeches and jumps back, Edric quickly dodges a hand thrown towards him “How the heck did you do that!”

“I was in your hood the whole time” Edric says “How's that for a smart idea?” he asks 

“So you left a note, knowing I would come after you, did something to yourself so you would fit in my hood and hitched a ride to the skull” Emira demands furiously.

Edric nods “Yup”

Emira stares in disbelief for a moment before letting out a breath “Okay I'll admit that was smart, I will admit that much, no one was at risk and you didn't get yourself hurt” 

“And, if you guys couldn't hitch a ride I could just come out and tell you” Edric adds “See? I even had a backup plan” he says proudly.

Emira glances at Amity and Luz, Amity had to admit, that had been a well thought out and clever rouse their brother had pulled on them, she found herself unable to be mad at him for it, he had in fact considered everyone's well being this time around, even if the first part required them to be annoyed and worried about him, she had no doubt if they had been too upset he would have just called it off as a prank. 

Luz looked impressed “Wow Edric, that was really clever” she praises and Edric looks even happier to get praise for the idea, but he still got a hard smack “That's for making me worry about you again” Emira emphasises “again” very clearly and Edric nods and rubs his head.

“But... since we are all here already” Emira says and looks at the cave curiously. Edric grins eagerly and looks at the other two for confirmation.

Amity looks at Luz who nods and she nods as well “I'm sure Indigo won't mind you two coming in, you did give an oath to not tell her secret after all” 

“Yeah!” Edric cheers and Emira rolls her eyes at him as the four of them head inside the cave through the void like entrance, unaware that a certain brunette had seen them from afar and watched them go inside.

Upon entering the cave, all four were greeted with complete darkness, Amity had immediately grabbed Luz's hand and Luz gave it a comforting squeeze in return, which made Amity's face go bright red, thankfully Luz couldn't see it.

“Wait, what happened to all the light? Did someone else come before us? INDIGO!” Luz yells and fumbles in her pouch for a light glyph, she only had light glyphs this time so it only took a moment for a small orb of light to break the darkness.

Ed and Em hadn't said a word yet, but Luz could still feel Emira standing beside her.

Something floated down from above them all and they all looked up, finally seeing where all the light orbs had been, every last one of the light orbs was now drifting down from high above them, slowly tracing a pathway for them to follow, once in sight, it was clear Emira and Edric were a little scared by the darkness around them, Edric had a tight grip on Emira's arm and Emira was patting his arm back in an attempt at comfort but also seemed to be needing his touch as comfort as well. 

Luz was the first to begin following the light orbs, pulling Amity by the hand, Amity grabbed Emira's free hand and began pulling her siblings along too, once they passed a certain length, the last light orb flicked back up out of view, this made the twins anxious, Amity felt Emira's hand grip hers a little more tightly “It's okay you two” Amity says and looks back at them, though it was harder to see their faces with so few light orbs around, she knew they were worried about not being able to see the exit, or even anything besides what the light reaches in front of them.

Once the four reached the final light orb, they could make out someone just beyond it, not close enough to see clearly, but it was apparent someone was there

“Indigo?” Luz calls and reaches out a hand, the figure didn't move, neither closer or further away 

“Indigo what's...?” Luz stops, using her light to show more of Indigo by letting it float closer to them, they had their eyes closed, they were breathing lightly but they stood up straight, yet they seemed at peace.

“Are they... asleep?” Emira asks, her and Edric looked at the figure curiously, yet again their ambiguity took the two by surprise.

Luz reaches forward slightly but before her hand could touch Indigo, the other steps back once, but doesn't open their eyes or acknowledge Luz at all “Oh! Maybe this is how no one stumbled across them while they were asleep” Luz says as she reaches out again 

“But then who led us with the lights?” Amity asks, being pulled along with Luz and subsequently pulling the twins with her, the light orb follows them and helps keep track of where Indigo moves to, no matter how fast Luz was or how she tried to trick them, Indigo as able to dodge the attempted touch with ease and fluidity.

“So, how can we wake them up?” Luz asks and looks at the others for inspiration “Well we've been talking those whole time so sound doesn't work, we cant touch them so that wont work either, uh...” Amity begins getting flustered as she tries to think of something.

“What if we stand around them with our arms out, they cant dodge all of us right?” Edric suggests to everyone's surprise “Are we sure those were Forgetme wasps? I think you got stung by Goodidea bees” Luz says causing Ed to grin brightly.

The four carefully split up and all took small steps towards Indigo, effectively cutting them off from stepping away, Indigo didn't move as they all closed in but their eyes suddenly flew open and all four were knocked away, the lights around them whizzed up to the huge gathering above and they were all plunged into darkness.

“Indigo its us! Luz and Amity!” Luz's voice came from near Amity and she scrambled towards it till she felt Luz's arm and clung to it. Ed and Em must have found each other in the darkness as Amity heard their breaths nearby, they were quick and scared, but neither of them had cried out, it's hard to show weakness when its drilled into you not to.

A breath could be heard above them all and slowly the lights began to decend, soon they were all lit up and visible to one another, the lights surrounded them in an outward circle for as far as they could reach.

Indigo stood looking at them all, having moved away it seemed, possibly out of fear, their expression showed nothing but their eyes flicked between Luz and Amity, and the twins huddled nearby.

“Those are my siblings, they've made an unbreakable oath not to tell anyone about you, they just... wanted to meet you” Amit says quickly, hoping Indigo wasn't upset with them for bringing others into their cave.

Indigo didn't speak, their eyes kept darting between them all and it soon hit Luz what Eda had said.  
“All those emotions could destroy and Empath”

“Guys we need to calm down, we're all overloading them with emotions” she says quickly and takes a deep breath, trying her best to clear her mind of any feelings apart from gladness to be here again, she heard Amity take a breath beside her, the twins took one in sync with the other, eventually Luz heard that familiar whisper 

“You're back”

Luz opens her eyes to find Indigo had moved towards them once again, their eyes were on Luz's, Luz glanced at the others whose eyes were all still closed, possibly trying to calm themselves still, Luz looks back and nods, not wanting to disturb them as they calmed themselves down, then Indigo could invite them in when they were ready to.

Indigo looked over the others for a moment “Amity has been hurt” Luz hears a slightly more aggressive whisper in her ear and glances at Amity's cast, nodding again.

Indigo moves forwards slowly and kneels in front of Amity, their hand reaches out to touch Amity's forehead, Amity jumps and her eyes open immediately, her eyes meet Indigos and Indigo's eyes flash, Amity doesn't move even as the darkness seems to engulf her for a moment before she back and the cast is gone, Amity blinks before looking down at her leg, she couldn't feel the usual pain, moving it slowly, she realised it had been healed.

Luz stares in awe as Amity stands up and stretches out her leg, Indigo stands, looking far happier now, Amity blinks and looks up at Indigo, Luz was sure she was talking to her privately as Amity gives a smile and murmurs a “Thanks” 

Luz glances over at the twins, they hadn't opened their eyes yet, she was surprised that they were so patient, usually they were confident meeting someone new, or at least they had been with her.

Indigo glances over once she was certain Amity was okay, walking over slowly to the two twins, both jumped at the same time and opened their eyes to look up as Indigo offered both a hand up, both hesitated, looking at each other first before looking at the hands and taking one each, getting pulled to their feet with ease.

Luz got up, being the only one still sitting down, moving over to Amity “How's you leg?” she asks softly 

“It's okay now, Indigo healed it for me, I don't know how I'll explain this to my parents but at least it doesn't hurt any more” Amity says with a smile, before blushing as Luz grins at her happily, looking away towards her siblings, Indigo was standing before the two with her arms folded, though that may be mirroring since the other two were doing the same thing, similarly to how Indigo had picked up how to smile from exposure to Luz.

Ed and Em seemed to be either getting told off or the line of conversation was making them unable to make eye contact with Indigo, given Indigo's serious look and posture, Amity guessed it was the first, though for what they were being told off for she wasn't sure.

Eventually Indigo seemed to relax and so did the twins, finally able to look up, despite all the obvious telling off, the two hadn't uttered a word yet, but now that the topic seemed to have changed, the two seemed more willing to speak.

Em was the first to speak, simply saying “Yeah, it was rather clever” and with how Ed looked pleased, she assumed this line of speech refereed to Ed tricking them into bringing him here themselves.

The Ed pipped up after a moment “You should come outside with us!” he says and balls his fists with excitement, Indigo sighed to themselves softly and their eyes flickered to Emira for a moment in particular “No he really won't, once somethings in his head, he won't let it go” Emira replies after the silent question.

Indigo glances over at Luz and Amity, Luz had begun spreading more light glyphs with Amity's help while they had been talking, walking along the large circle and placing one once she worked out the distance that worked best, Amity was holding another stack of glyphs and seemed to just be enjoying whatever conversation Luz was having with her, smiling and blushing occasionally.

Indigo looks back at the twins “I understand your eagerness for me to see your world, I can get glimpses through your emotions and it does look beautiful... but this place is all I really know, it's the safest place for me to be, if I leave.... I don't think I could come back again, not while knowing how much I still have to see out there, besides, just having four of your nearby was enough to overload my mind with emotions, I don't know if I could handle even more peoples emotions running through my head so suddenly”

Ed had been listening carefully while Em had nodded along with their words, understanding evident in her expression. 

“What if, you tried, not reading peoples emotions?” Ed asks curiously. 

Indigo blinks in surprise “Not.... reading emotions? I don't think I can stop it...”

“Have you ever tried?” 

“No”

“Then how do you know you can't if you haven't tried?”

“Where would I even start “trying” to do something I've always done?”

“Can you hold your breath?”

“Yes”

“Then just do that, but with the emotions instead!”

Indigo was beyond confused, holding ones breath was a physical thing, reading emotions was not, how could you just, cut it off like that?

Edric was watching intently and Emira was looking at her brother, her emotions were mixed, both a sense of understanding and yet total disbelief of his even thinking they were the same thing, Indigo supposed it wouldn't hurt to try it, the most prominent emotion in the room was evident, love, though there were several kinds present, the love for a sibling, the begrudging love for family even when they were annoying, the adoration of someone adorable, the love of someone who opens your heart. 

Indigo focuses on all these emotions, that much they knew how to do, now they simply had to stop focusing on them and let them go quiet . . . . . . . it wasn't working. Now those emotions were being amplified, they were almost overwhelming, Indigo felt their lungs burning and took in a deep breath, ah that was probably why.

Swaying on their feet, Indigo stuck a hand out for balance, their eyes opened to see all other eyes on them, they blinked a few times, before suddenly realising something, they weren't hearing anything, they couldn't hear a single one of any of them, were they all just statues? Where were their emotions! Indigo felt panic in her mind, they tried to ask what was happening but no one responded aside from looking at them in worry, Ed's arm move and Indigo flinched, why hadn't they sensed it? 

Indigo was now terrified, they wanted it back, they shut their eyes tightly and focused hard, love, fear, anxiety, anger, trust, happiness, sadness, guilt, regret, anything, 

As if a valve was turned in their heads, every single emotion came flooding back and had Indigo on their knees, they were sure they had been screaming in all the others heads for a least a minute before everything finally calmed down.

Indigo was still taking deep breaths when they finally managed to let their head go and start to look up, everything was a little fuzzy and odd looking, but they could make out each individual sitting before them, the twins were right in front of them, which was which they weren't sure, Amity was to one of their lefts and Luz was to the others right, the collective worry, anxiety and fear from all four was enough to make Indigo fell sick, not because they were feeling it towards them, simply because negative emotions tended to do that to them regardless, which was why they always tried to quell them in any visitors they had.

Thankfully this would be an easy one “I am alright” was all they had to say for a flood of relief to hit their senses and chase off the ill feeling, to be replaced by a nice warm feeling all through them.

Indigo slips her legs around so they can sit normally and looks up at all the eyes before them, there was still concern, but that wasn't necessarily negative, it didn't cause any negative side effects at least so Indigo saw it as kind of a mind ground in terms of emotions, it didn't feel good but it came from a good place from the person.

Indigo made no note for how close they all were now, lack of space never bothered them, apart from moments ago when they couldn't sense the others movements, if they didn't want to be touched, they wouldn't be, if the intent behind the touch had anything sinister they could easily move away. 

Once they felt their breathing had significantly calmed, Indigo begins to send them all the same message “Don't be concerned, I did not realise it had actually worked, the silence was....” all the eyes on them seemed to understand immediately. 

Indigo assumed they had shown immense distress during all of the previous events, aside from screaming in their minds. 

Regret began to plague Indigo's mind and they squirmed relentlessly in their own head, if there was one emotion they could not stand, it was regret, compared to noting it was slightly less uncomfortable, only slightly, Indigo knew exactly who was feeling it, they sent a silent plea for the others to leave for a while.

Luz was quick to act “I'll keep going with the lights, maybe that'll help” she says and stands up, Amity, naturally, offered to help her and Emira stood silently to go with them, Edric was about to get up when a small “Wait” came to his mind, Edric pauses, but he cant meet those Indigo eyes staring intently at him

“Yes?” he asks weakly, eyes focused on the hands clenched on his lap.

“It wasn't your fault”

Edric lifts his head quickly, meeting Indigo's eye for a moment but he closes his and shakes his head “It was just another stupid idea, ask Em, I'm full of them, its my fault for saying anything at all, if I didn't...”

“I chose to try it, you didn't make me try it, you have no control over my own actions, therefore you have no blame over them either” 

“But if I hadn't said it...”

“I wouldn't have thought about it? If you hadn't mentioned it, whose to say someone else wouldn't have? Your idea was a valid one, you couldn't have known any of the inevitable results, nor should you blame yourself for them” 

Edric opened his golden eyes and once again met Indigo's, Indigo felt his emotional turmoil as the silence remained until they felt it calm slowly the longer the two made eye contact, a different emotion began to surface, but Indigo just smiled slightly as Edric finally looked away, he knew that Indigo would know, so he didn't both trying to hide the blush across his face too hard. 

“I think I will try”

Edric blinked and looked back in confusion “Try what?”

“Try to leave, but I expect you to promise me something”

Edric sat up straight in curiosity “What?” he asks, Indigo felt his eagerness, he wanted them to try so much that they were sure no mater what they said, he may just agree regardless.

“I want you to promise that when I come back here, you'll come with me, I may need just as much help coming back in as I will walking out” 

Edric's eyebrows go up but he doesn't hesitate “I will!” 

“Thank you, it will help me greatly” Indigo says and they feel the positivity that those words bring the other, it make them feel just as positive about the soon to come departure from all they know.

-3 real world hours of light glyphing later-

The five stood at the exit of the cave in a line, Indigo was in between Luz and Edric, both gave a supportive smile as they all stepped outside, Indigo had braced themselves for what was coming, they felt light against their eyes and didn't dare open them, the sensed Luz moving and felt something against their face and nose, instinctively they opened their eyes to find something on their face, it dimmed the light of the outside significantly for their comfort, thankfully this new light wasnt too bad since Indigo had gotten used to some light thanks to Luz's light orbs.

Once Indigo had their eyes open, they didn't want to close them ever again, there was so much to see, colours, shapes, objects, creatures, Indigo's eyes were darting around so much to try and see all of it, every sound was new, every smell was new, all their senses were on high alert for all the new things around them, something pressed lightly against Indigo's face and they flinched back, looking around wildly.

“Easy, it's just wind” Edric says calmly 

“Wind?” Indigo thinks to him 

“Yeah, its the air around us but its just moving” he tries to explain as the others smile at Indigo, they had all been letting Ed take the lead with Indigo since earlier. 

“Moving air... the air can move.... that's.... interesting” Indigo admits to themselves, there were a lot of new sensations here, it was, warm out here, Indigo knew warmth after Luz had hugged them and they had felt the others warmth through it, having asked Amity about it out of curiosity not long after the hug when Luz was preoccupied.

Indigo begins to scour the landscape with their eyes, they wanted to know what everything was called, what it all did, why it was there, but they knew Ed wouldn't have all those answers.

“Uh guys, we maaaay have a problem, I dont think Owlbert can carry all of us back” Luz says quietly 

“I can just shrink again!” Ed says quickly.

“Even then theres still four of us” Luz says 

“I dont know the transformation spell well enough to change” Emira admits, Ed was always better at smaller things when transforming. 

Indigo realised what that would mean “I can't come with you” they all heard the soft whisper, they all also picked up the lingering sadness.

A fluttering made all of them look up as something flew by overhead, Indigo flinches and ducks behind Edric “Someone's there” they think urgently, she could sense a flurry of confusion, it wasn't the griffon's.

“Oh Viney!” Emira calls quickly, as the griffon lands and the short brunette clambers off her carefully and steps over.

Indigo felt something akin to annoyance as the brunette observed the scene for a moment 

“Sleep-walking again Ed?” she asks bluntly “At 2 in the afternoon” she adds with a quirked brow

Suspicion, that made Indigo's mouth taste sour, they disliked it strongly enough to open their mouth and flick out their tongue, since they were behind Edric none of the others saw them do it.

Edric became immediately nervous as the others realised they had been caught out in the earlier lie.

“We were, uh, trying to find something I dropped?” Edric tried quickly

“You didn't get this far up, nor did you go into that cave before, I don't appreciate all the lies you guys are trying to feed me y'know” Viney says with a look of disappointment at all of them, guilt washed over Indigo from the four of them as they almost wretched loudly.

Edric looked in panic at Amity, who quickly said “We were trying to find someone, but we can't tell you who it is, or why we were looking for them” 

Viney looks towards Amity, taking very quick notice of her lack of cast “Did this someone heal your leg for you?” she asks with a quirked brow.

“Yes! Yes they did but they aren't... supposed to be doing that, so...” Amity rubs the back of her neck 

Viney could tell she was at least being honest, even if it was only some of the truth, sighing 

“How are you gonna explain it to your parents?”

“I was gonna tell them the Emperors coven healed it” Amity says with a self conscious shrug.

Emira decided now was a good time to take the heat off her sister “Hey Viney, could you possibly help us out? Luz's staff there can only really hold three people, Ed hitched a ride on me before but he's out of magic after this morning” she explains with a shy smile at the healing beast keeper, who looked a little bashful herself at the smile 

“Uh, sure! Whose coming? Puddles can manage one extra person” Viney says and pats Puddles, who warbles happily, before very quickly padding over to Emira to get a head pat, Emira obliges with a surprised smile “Uh, I guess I am” she says she says as Puddles starts to push her towards Viney, who quickly shooed Puddles away from the taller girl, telling her to stop messing around, Puddles warbles and prances around the two happily, before stopping so Viney can climb onto her and offer Emira a hand up.

Once Emira was seated, Viney barely had time to say “Okay” before the griffon took off on her own, both girls yelped in surprise as they jetted off and out of sight.

The remaining individuals let out a collective sigh of relief. Indigo stepped put from behind Edric once they were sure the girl named Viney was well out of seeing distance.

“That was close” Luz comments, rubbing her neck, she has basically been frozen speechless as soon as she recognised the griffon.

“Too close” Amity murmurs “We should figure out what we are doing now” she says as she turns to see Edric watching Indigo looking all around again, she could see the slightly dopey smile he had on his face, she knew that look well, but she said nothing and cleared her throat “Should we go to the owl house? It should be quiet enough there right?”

Luz nods “Eda and King are gone for most of today, we can go there!” Luz says and sets up the staff, getting on and waiting for the others, Amity gets on behind Luz and looks over at Indigo who watched the two once they realised what was being said, walking over cautiously to look at the staff , copying Luz and Amity by swinging a leg over it, they had to be pretty close give the size of the staff, so Amity was yet again clinging to Luz's shoulders.

Indigo glances back and watches in fascination as Edric draws a spell circle, he seemed to poof and was replaced by a cute green bat that flapped over and landed clumsily on Amity's shoulder, cambering to cling to her properly 

“Ow, Ed! Careful!” Amity murmurs , Bat!Ed squeaked in reply, probably apologising.

Luz glances back “Everyone ready?” “Yeah, “Yes” “Eeep!”

Luz nods and takes off.

-Several hours of flying later-

Luz lands carefully on the ground, everyone looked windswept, but okay, Amity and Indigo dismount quickly, Indigo promptly falls over onto the grass below, flying may have been too stimulating for them, their legs looked like jelly, even as they now barely held their own weight off the ground, now that everything from their waist down was on the ground, though Indigo was quick to get distracted as they noticed the grass beneath them and pulled some up to look at more closely. 

Edric had turned back to himself now and sat down, watching Indigo examine the grass before his eyes widened and he snatched it away from them 

“Dont eat that!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall know Little Miss Perfect? There's a sequel for it inspired by Luz called "Ordinary" spread the word, this needs to be known!


	7. Everything is edible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indigo learns more about the weird world around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones a little short but the next one will be longer, bare with me guys, work makes it much harder to write as frequently as i want to.

Everything is edible

Indigo regards Edric in curiosity as he snatches away the grass

"What do you mean eat?" They asked curiously.

Edric blinks, looking at Indigo in confusion 

"You haven't eaten anything before?"

"I don't know what that means"

"Its when you… you put something in your mouth, chew it and swallow it"

Indigo looked baffled yet very curious, looking at the grass around them again with even more curiosity.

"You can't eat the grass" Esric adds as they pluck another few strands.

"I'm not going to eat it"

"Good" Edric says simply

"I'm going to chew and swallow it"

"Titan damnit!" Edric reaches out to snatch the grass again but Indigo moves it away, there was a new glint in their eyes, a playful one, a mischievous one. 

Edric was now trying to get the grass off of Indigo but was failing miserably, they were simply too fast, though their goal only seemed to be to tease him about it, he was concerned that they might actually do it.

Luz and Amity were just standing a few metres away, Luz was trying not to laugh and Amity had her arms folded, shaking her head with a smile on her face.

Eventually Indigo let Edric have the grass and sat up

"So you guys really put stuff in your mouth to eat?" Indigo asks, their legs felt normal once again.

After finally getting the grass off of them, Edric calms his flustered self and nods "Yes, but not just anything lying around, I can show you what is okay to eat" 

Indigo just gives a half smile with that same glint in it.

Edric felt his ears go red and looked to the side, Indigo saw their chance and grabbed more grass, popping it into their mouth, without Edric noticing, the tactile sensation of something on their tongue made Indigo's eyes widen.

Once Edric looked back, he noticed the change and cursed under his breath "You ate some grass didn't you?"

"Technically no" 

"Indigo" Edric says and face palms 

Indigo chews the blades of grass curiously, it was bizzare for them, moving their jaw around felt funny.

Edric shook his head and looked at the other two in a "help me out here" manner.

Neither girl made any attempt to come over, purely due to the fact that they had doubled over giggling, having probably figured out what Indigo had done.

Indigo got some grass stuck between their teeth and opened their mouth wide to get it out with a hand, all three watching looked surprised at the sight.

It was not unusual for anything on the boiling isles to have fangs, most witches even had a small set to an extent, but Indigo's were shockingly sharp, long and wickedly serrated, not the usual ordinary fangs.

Indigo clamps their mouth shut as they feel the others' surprise and slight fear, covering their mouth quickly, self-consciously, eyes flickering from one person to another.

"Oh, uh, its… its okay Indigo, we were just surprised" Edric says quickly, looking at the other two for support.

Indigo feels the fear fade away as the others look at them and nod.

"But man you got some big teeth for someone who doesn't eat!" Luz says "Can I see them again?" She trots over and plops down in front of Indigo with a curious look at them.

Indigo was momentarily baffled, but they knew Luz was just curious and so they opened their mouth wide to show Luz their fangs once again.

Most of their teeth were of average size, some serrated, some a little flatter, but their incisors were the main focus, they would have to open their mouth pretty wide to bite with those, potentially as a last resort of defense.

"They look so cool! Amity come and see!" Luz calls over "I'm fine, most witches have fangs you know, I was just surprised" Amity says with a shrug.

"Wait… do YOU have fangs?!"

This made Edric snort as Amity blushes brightly

"Uh, yes?"

Indigo closes their mouth since they were not being looked at anymore, Luz attention was on Amity and switched to Ed for a moment "You too?"

Edric smirks and one could see the sharpness of his incisors quite clearly.

Luz gasps before looking to Amity

"How have I never noticed?!"

Amity is flustered, folding her arms and looking away "We don't make a habit of showing them to the world, its normal for us" 

Luz looks fascinated. "Well humans don't have fangs so it's super cool to us!"

Something long and tubular came out from the doorway in Indigo's peripheral vision, coming right at them, Indigo snaps their head around, jaws wide open and bites it.

"HOOOOOOOT! HOOOTY HOOOOT!"

"Indigo stop!" "Indigo let him go!" ".... Don't. Eat him" "Amity!" "What?"

It took several minutes for Indigo to release Hooty from their mouth and several more to get them to stop hissing at him, all three initially flinched away when the other witch began hissing fiercely, Hooty initially hissed back but soon backed away to his door to sulk, letting Indigo calm down slowly.

Indigo was panting by the time Edric moves forwards again to tap their shoulder, they turned to face the others, quickly closing their mouth tight shut as they processed what they just did 

"That… doesn't usually happen" they said quietly, looking at their feet for a moment 

"Well Hooty tends to ignore personal space" Luz says "He even got beaten up by Amity not long ago!" She adds with a chuckle.

"He deserved it, I warned him not to touch me" Amity says and folds her arms, looking away.

Indigo looks back up at the three, sighing in relief "Well, so long as it doesnt come at me again I should be fine, that was strange though, normally I don't… make those sounds" 

"You mean the hissing? Mmm nah witches don't normally hiss" Edric says with a shrug. "But hey, it gets the point across right?" 

Indigo lets another smile slip onto their face for a moment "Yes, I suppose it did"

"So… I can't eat the bird tube?"

"No!"   
"Well…"   
"Amity!"   
"Fine, fine, no he's off the menu"

Edric looks at Indigo "Are you hungry?" He asks curiously.

Indigo blinks "No I'm Indigo"

Luz cracks up for a moment as Edric rolls his eyes at the laughing human 

"No, I mean is your body telling you that you need to eat something?"

"I… dont know?" 

"Do you want something to eat?"

"Yes"

"Then you are hungry"

Indigo seemed intrigued. "So it's a feeling?" They asked with interest

"I guess so?" Edric says and looks at the girls, Luz shrugged and Amity tilts her head and raises a shoulder

"So can i have more of the grass stuff then?" Indigo asks

"No more grass!" Edric says firmly with just made Amity laugh, Edric looks at her in annoyance

"I'm sorry, but YOU of all people saying that is just funny, you sound like Emira telling you not to eat snow!" Amity says and buckles over.

The laugh was contagious as Luz snorts from just watching Amity laugh.

Edric's ears burn with embarrassment and he huffs, looking away from them all in annoyance, scuffing a foot at the grass.

A movement made Edric look over at Indigo who had walked up to a tree and snapped off a branch, examining it 

"Indigo no!"

CRUNCH

"Stop eating that!"

And thus proceeded a tug off war over a branch as Amity and Luz keeled over watching for another moment before running over to help Edric.

Indigo lets go soon after and sends all three falling back, letting out a loud laugh, all of the three watched them double over with laughter, actual physical laughter, it ended up being just as contagious as all three of the others began laughing as well.

Once the four had calmed down, their giggles finally subsiding, Indigo moves forward to help them all up 

"You did say not to eat the grass" they said, still whispering through all of their minds.

Edric grumbles good humouredly at them 

"WE will give you something to eat" he says as he tosses the half eaten branch away into the woods.

Indigo watches as they all as they head for the house and stands awkwardly, glaring at the weird face that came at them earlier, Edric, notices, stop and heads back over to them 

"You coming inside?" He asks quietly 

"Inside that thing?" Indigo asks skeptically

"Hooty will give you your space, you showed him who's boss, c'mon" Edric smiles and offers them his hand, Indigo looks down at it, they remembered seeing Luz and Amity holding hands before and assumed that was what he was offering, lifting a hand carefully and placing it on his.

Edric grins and holds their hand as he guides them over, Hooty gives a half hearted hiss, but Indigo gives a much fiercer one and he yields quickly, opening the door to let them in. Inside, Eda and King were waiting to meet this new guest, Luz was excitedly sitting on the table with another Azura book as Amity sits on the couch with another.

Indigo felt the emotions of the two others on top of all the others and began processing them quickly to avoid overloading themselves, able to keep their cool for now as nothing major was flooding their mind.

Eda stood up and walked over to inspect the new person called "Indigo" carefully.

"So you're the one who assaulted my house?" She asks flatly.

Indigo felt absolutely no remorse for those actions and simply nodded.

"Hah! Well you're honest I'll give ya that, can't say I blame you, Hooty doesn't know what personal space even is. So long as you don't go biting me or King, you'll be fine, but now Im curious, lets see those fangs Luz keeps telling me about" Eda says and points to Indigo's mouth"

Indigo opens her mouth and Eda whistles 

"Now those are some top notch nashers, dont think Ive seen many like those for a long time, how old did you say you were?"

"I didn't, I'm not sure exactly, but I think somewhere around 16? Maybe 17?" Indigo thinks into Eda's mind

Eda raises a brow "Hmm telepathy huh? Can you speak with your mouth as well?"

Indigo hesitates and opens their mouth a little, as if testing it

"Ayyyyyye think sho?" They tries, before shaking their head

"It's quite uncomfortable" they say as everyone looks at them, stunned to hear their actual voice, even if it was a little jumbled.

"You'll wanna work on that, telepathy isnt something every run of the mill witch can learn, people will get suspicious" Eda advises carefully.

Indigo nods in understanding 

"Now enough of all that, Lets eat!" Eda says and magics up some food for everyone on the table, Luz gets levitated onto the couch beside King.

Indigo watches in awe at all the stuff on wird circular white things.

Edric moves forward and pulls Indigo along to the table, sitting down carefully.

"The stuff on the plates is edible"

"Everything is edible?" Indigo says in return, causing Edric to sigh

"Everything on the plates is what is reasonably edible"

"Exactly, everything is edible" 

Edric deadpans at Indigo for a moment before he has to hide at smirk and a laugh as Indigo tried to eat a plate once all the food was gone 

"You won't be able to eat that" he says smugly.

Indigo narrows their eyes and bites harder still, there was a crunching sound and their eyes darted to Edric in triumph before removing the plate to show it was unharmed when he went to snatch it away, also showing a cracker they had crushed in their other hand to make the sound.

Edric shakes his head at them with a smile "Okay you got me" he admits as Indigo laughs loudly with the others.

After eating some food Edric excuses himself for a moment and heads outside, going to the forest line and standing behind a tree, looking up at the sun, he would have to be home soon, which meant he wouldn't be able to take Indigo back to the cave tonight, if they even planned to go back tonight. 

Edrics ear twitched as the sound of someone walking behind the tree made him check to see Indigo walk past the tree and look directly at him, they had known exactly where he was.

Edric moved so Indigo could lean against the tree as well.

"Needed time to think?" Indigo asks softly.

"Yeah" Edric says softly

"Your emotions were going all over the place, i just wanted to be sure you were alright" Indigo clarifies, those eyes flickered to look at Edric from the side.

"I'm as good as I can be I guess, kinda sad I wont be able to take you back today, I'd end up missing curfew, I'd be in even worse trouble than I already am, Emira would kill me, my parents would probably restrict my time even more, everyone just thinks Im a stupid, dumb guy who cant look after himself" Edric started getting stuck in his own thoughts, clenching his fists angrily as he thought about all the times those in his family chided him for any ideas he had, he felt his chest tighten but he didnt let the tears fall.

"A Blight never cries" came that horrible voice he had heard all his life.

A hand comes to Edrics shoulder and he jumps and looks up to have indigo eyes meet his, Indigo was very close to him right now, almost nose to nose

"Breathe" was the one word he heard, he let out the breath he had been holding, Indigo moves back as he takes deep breaths, he didn't even care when the tears started to roll down his cheeks, it felt good to let go of all that pressure, to just let them fall.

The hand on Edric's shoulder gives a gentle squeeze and he is gently guided into a hug, which he gladly accepts and hugs back tightly, burying his face into Indigo's shoulder, crying for a long while.

The relief of being allowed to cry, not having someone tell him off for his weakness, but simply hold him and let him cry, Edric wasn't sure what he did to earn any of this, true he had Emira, but it's not like she was much for mushy stuff, if he had cried near her she would tell him to get a grip before their parents saw him, granted it was to protect him from the worse fate his parents would inflict, but it didn't make it sting any less.

A few moments passed as Edric slowly settled down and just relaxed into the hug, he wasn't aware that Indigo had no idea they could just let go, they simply waited for Edric to let go himself.

Edric, meanwhile was in no hurry to leave, he hadn't had such a genuine hug in a long time, not since he and his sisters were still toddlers and their parents' teachings had not dampened their relationship.

It took ten minutes before Edric realised that maybe Indigo didn't necessarily know they could choose to let go, but once Edric pulled away he realised that said person had actually fallen asleep while hugging him, he was quite impressed that they had kept up the hug even in their sleep, now, their arms simply hung at their sides like they had before in the cave.

Edric wasn't quite sure what to do, he tried tapping Indigo to wake them up, but that didn't work, so he tried something else, taking their hand and taking a step away, Indigo followed suit.

Edric led the sleeping person carefully back to the owl house, Hooty glared for a moment before realising that Indigo wasn't glaring or hissing and simply opened up the door.

Everyone glances up as Edric leads the sleeping empath inside, he didn't bother to shush them since Indigo didn't seem to respond to sound at all when asleep.

Luz and Amity scoot off the couch as Edric tries to get Indigo to sit down, deciding to try sitting himself and hoping they mirror him, when they do he lets out a sigh and lets go of their hand, slowly getting up to be sure they wouldn't follow him.

Indigo, while sitting perfectly rigid while Edric held their hand, seemed to just melt into the soft couch once his hand left theirs.

Edric glances at the others and feels his ears burn as they were all smirking at him 

"What?" He asks "I wasn't just gonna leave them outside"

"You, Edric Blight did not think to pull a single prank on a sleeping person who could walk around with you?" Amity asks in disbelief with a raised eyebrow.

"No! Besides, Indigo might not see it as a prank, they might take it too seriously and get upset" 

"Hasn't stopped you before" Luz points out and Edric knew exactly what she was talking about 

"We apologised for that" 

"Yeah, you did, but the fact that you thought it was just a prank to begin with was…"

"Wrong, we know, Indigo chewed us out for it already, they said if we ever did something so callus again they'd twist our ears clean off" Edric cuts in quickly, his ears drooping a little.

Amity seemed surprised but nodded in agreement "Alright, but that doesn't explain why you wouldn't do something tame, unless…." 

"People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones Mittens" Edric warns and Amity raises her hands quickly in surrender.

"Fair point, fair point, my lips are sealed" Amity says and blushes as Luz looks at her in confusion, simply muttering "Nothing" when Luz asks what she means.

"Well as much as I'd like to stay, we really should head home and be back for curfew Mittens" Edric says and heads for the door. 

Amity sighs and walks after him slowly, giving Luz a quick wave as they walked out the door.

"Bye Amity! Bye Edric!" Luz calls after them before the door closes and the two start the trek home.

"But seriously Ed, what happened when Indigo went outside after you? They said they were just gonna be a minute, you guys were out for like 15" Amity says.

"They were just…. Helping me with something" Ed says quietly, not meeting his younger sister's eye.

"Oh come on Ed, I told you everything about when she helped me"

"Alright alright" Edric says as Amity punches his arm, he knew she meant well, even if she didn't know how to word it.

"I just kinda, vented out how I felt, about our parents, how everyones always kinda annoyed at me, you all think im dumb, Emira's mad at me, just… everything, they listened and…. Let me cry for a while" Edric practically whispers the last part, but Amity hears him regardless, her eyes widened before looking down.

It hadnt occured to Amity that Edric would take all of that to heart, to be fair he always seemed to mirror Emira and she took it all in her stride, but Emira didnt get called dumb.

Amity remembered the look of pride Edric had held as they all complimented his ideas, even Emira had called it clever, but that didn't mean she was any less mad at him from the night before and Edric was smart enough to know that.

The gates to Blight manor were coming into view. 

Edric looked uncomfortable, he kept wiping his face, it wasn't immediately obvious that he had been crying but you could never be too careful with the parents they had.

A flapping sound could be heard and as the two turned, a griffon lands neatly behind them, Emira slides off the back of it and exchanges a few words with Viney, who smiles and laughs before waving and taking off with Puddles again.

Emira glances over at her siblings, not missing the knowing smirk passed between the two "Shut up" she says as she walks past them towards the manor.

The three fall into step together

"So… where did you two go?" Edric asks curiously.

Emira glances at him and turns to look ahead again "Nowhere, Puddles decided to fly us around the whole time, so we just kinda watched everything, since Puddles refused to land for Viney" Emira gave Eds face another glance before stopping "You were crying weren't you?" She demands in a quiet voice.

Ed froze up "How did you….?"

"Your eyes are all red Edric, they're gonna notice" 

Edric thinks before spinning a finger and covering his face with an illusion of his normal face "There" he says semi confidently.

Emira, who had raised a hand to do the same, lowered hers and looked ahead as they entered the living room.

Edric sighs, there was no room for praise over common sense.

Amity gently nudges her brother's arm mouths a "good job" with a half smile and a nod.

Edric gives a soft smile in return before wiping it off his face and looking ahead as their parents entered the room to check that they were present for curfew.

-Luz-

Indigo had been asleep on the couch for nearly an hour, Eda had tried to rouse them with the smell of food, trying to push them, attempting an awakening spell and attempted to pour water on them, which Luz had refused to allow.

"Well shouldn't they be going home now? I have enough freeloaders here" Eda says

"Cmon Eda what's one night? They aren't hurting anyone" Luz says and gives her a cute puppy dog eyes look, Eda"eeeeh"s and waves a hand "Fiiiiiiine, put those eyes back in the puppy's skull, they can stay for ONE night and that's it"

"Thank you Eda!" Luz says and gives Eda a big hug, which Eda reluctantly allowed

"What is it with you and this weird parallel arm thing?" She asks "Alright get off, if they're gonna stay then you better get them a blanket or something" she says and shoos Luz away so the young girl could go find her one.

Luz scampers off out of view.

Eda looks at Indigo for a moment "I am curious about you Empath, I suppose you already know that, heck you can probably still hear me even in your sleep, maybe, but you seem to make Luz happy, so I guess you're a good one, just… keep it that way"


	8. Time to Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its about time some people learned to talk dont you think?

Time to Talk

"Alright! Lesson one on talking!" Luz says loudly.

Indigo sat on the couch as Luz stood on the table looking determined and ready to teach them how to speak with their mouth.

"So, we know you CAN speak with your mouth, you speak almost perfectly in your head so I don't have to teach you the words, we just need to work on mouth movements and stuff!" Luz says and hops down "Hmm, what's an easy word to say?" 

"Luz"

"Yes?" Luz looks up to see who said their name, Indigo blinks at her.

"Huh, coulda sworn someone said my name, anyways back to an easy word"

"Luz" 

Luz looks up, thoroughly baffled "Okay who said my name!?" She says and looks around, before noticing Indigo trying not to laugh 

"Gasp! It was you!" She point accusingly and Indigo laughs out loud, which just makes Luz laugh too, they were both giggling for a few moments at themselves before straightening up to continue

"Alright, you can say my name pretty well! Which means your l's and z's aren't tripping you up. Hmm can you say… oh Willow, try saying Willow '' Luz carefully say the word to show how her mouth and tongue move.

Indigo watches these movements carefully.

"Will-owwww" 

"Close! Really close!, but your putting too much on the w at the end, just a quick short ow"

"Willow" 

"There! Perfect!"

"Whats a Willow?" Indigo asks even as they look pleased at saying it

"Well it's a few things, for one its the name of a kind of tree and another is the name of my best friend!" 

"Interesting, so some words mean more than one thing sometimes?" Indigo enquiries.

"Yeah! Like my name, Luz, is actually the spanish word for Light!" Luz explains quickly.

"Liiiiight"

"Yeah! Good job!"

-Amity-

Amity wasn't really sure how she got away with telling her parents the Emperor's coven healed her leg for her, she just said she had visited Lilith there with the help of the twins and they had healed it for her, somehow her parents bought that malarky, but Amity was nervous that they might try to contact Lilith to thank her for it, but then, thanking people wasn't their style.

One thing Amity was sure of was that she had a lot of homework and assignments to catch up on, after their parents checked in and got fed a bunch of lies, the twins had went to their own rooms, Emira was still very annoyed at Edric and it was showing pretty clearly, because said twin kept coming in to Amity's room instead to ask if she wanted help with all her homework.

"Cmon Mittens, I can help!"

"No Edric, I can do it myself, that's the point!" Amity chides, but her glare softens when she glances around and spots him looking at the ground.

"It's cuz I'm not as smart as Em isnt it?" He asks quietly

"No, Edric it's not, I need to learn this stuff myself or I'll never pass my exams, but… if you want to help…." Amity looks over her assignments, she had a biology assignment to complete, she had to admit she was a little stuck on it. "Maybe you could help me with this biology assignment"

Edric perks up immediately "Biology! Oh I got this!" He says and walks over, kneeling to scan over the assignment "Oh! I remember this stuff!" He says and scans over what Amity had already written "Ah, you get stuck there too huh? Emira had the same problem, the thing is you have to remember…" 

And thus Amity was treated to a long talk on biology by the older brother everyone considered "dumb" Amity was beginning to think that eople jist didnt look hard enough at those around them.

Amity had to admit, when Edric knew and enjoyed something, he really seems to absorb into it, he knew all about the biology of witches, he even went on small tangents about other creatures, yes his magical talent was in Illusions, but if he set his mind to it, Amity had no doubt he would excel in things like healing and beast keeping, he even mastered the transformation spell in a week, even Emira still struggled with it to this day, but perhaps knowing the physiology of the creature itself was giving him an advantage to begin with, he seemed particularly fond of bats.

Amity remembered how eager Edric had been to keep that bat he had caught as a pet, he had pleaded with Emira for hours after he had been made to release it, Emira hadn't thought him responsible enough, let alone that their parents would even allow him to keep it, so he was very firmly rejected. 

While Amity was thinking, she hadn't noticed Edric scrawling away on some spare paper, it looked like he was drawing some kind of diagram for her to reference, he was putting a lot of care inti getting each part right, Amity didn't think she had ever seen him this focused on anything, aside from a really complex prank.

Neither had realised that Emira was leaning on the doorframe, watching the two for a long while. After another moment Emira walks away to her room, she had been planning to talk to Edric about why he had been crying before, she had been extremely hard on him these past couple of days. 

Emira walks slowly into her room and closes the door, she had talked with Viney while they had been flying, the beast keeping healer had listened to her rambling, she hadn't said anything about Indigo but had subtly implicated something along the lines of what had happened.

"So he disappeared on you? No note, no explanation, just gone?" 

"Yeah! I was worried sick about him! Why didn't he stop to think about what could've happened?" Emira had ranted

"Well, maybe he was overloaded with his own feelings? I mean everyone needs some time to themselves right? Maybe he needed to talk to someone who wouldn't make him feel bad for feeling… well bad, it does sound like you guys are under a lot of pressure, Edric seemed like a really sweet guy, the whole way back he kept asking me questions about griffon physiology, you'd have sworn the guy wants to do beast keeping with how he acted."

"He did when he was young, too young to know that mom and dad would never allow it, then they sprung it on us when I started showing promise in illusions, Edric of course was also gifted in it, given we are twins, but… I know it's not what he wants to be doing, he'd rather be off learning about all the creatures of the isles"

Viney had smiled back at Emira "So now your getting it huh? The poor guy is out of his element and he's just looking to make the best of it, maybe that time away was his chance to vent, maybe he had someone he knew he could go and talk to, someone who wouldn't be stressed or annoyed over him crying in their presence."

"So… Do you think I'm being too hard on him? I'm still mad at him for what he did but… should I be?"

"Emira, you can be mad at him and still show him kindness, compassion and everything he needs, if I gave Puddles the cold shoulder every time she ripped up my favourite jacket, well I doubt she'd ever let me on her back, its okay to be mad at someone, but still care about them enough to show it, even if its only in private"

Emira let her head fall against the door behind her, thinking over those words carefully.

-Luz-

"Alright! So let's try it one more time, someone asks who you are… you say?"

Indigo opens her mouth to speak "Hi, 'Im Indigo"

"Yeah! And if someone asks where you are from?"

"Skullsdale"

"Perfect!" Luz says with a thumbs up "And if they ask about your teeth?"

"Im part dragon" 

Luz snorts "No, c'mon, take this seriously"

"Okay, okay, it was a family trait"

Eda strolls into the room "what are you two up to?" She asks curiously.

"'Im teaching Indigo how to speak! That way they can come to school with me for a day!" 

Eda's smirk vanishes "Kid remember what I said about…"

"Yes I do, I have a plan!" Luz says with a grin 

Eda tilts her head to the side "And what is that exactly?"

"Well, Indigo can focus on particular emotions and kind of close off other ones, so if they focus on our good emotions, then they won't have to worry about all the other bad ones and soon they'll get used to being there so they won't have to do that" 

"Kid it sounds like your wanting them to enroll with you"

"Yeah?"

"The kid is 17 years old, they're barely a kid anymore, Bump ain't gonna let them in at that age, besides, if they don't know 2 spells before they even go in, they'll end up in the baby class"

Luz thinks for a moment and has an idea

"Oooh maybe Amity and the twins can teach you some of their spells!" 

Indigo looks intrigued. "You think so?"

"Well you are a witch, I'd wager you have one of those bile sac thingies on your heart so I don't see why not!" Luz says.

Eda watches as Luz hops off the table to bounce with glee as the empath looks excited, their facial expressions needed some work but she had to admit, for someone living in the dark their whole lives, the kid was a fast learner, then again Luz was very expressive.

-Amity-

"So you want the three of us to teach Indigo some spells so they can come to school?" Emira asks as the three stood in the forest, well away from the owl house and Hooty

"Yes, please!" Luz says eagerly.

Amity looks at her siblings, she didn't want to tell Luz no, apparently neither did they, Edric looked excited to try and Emira seemed thoughtful.

"Can you draw circles?" Emira asked Indigo, who stood beside Luz before them.

"I don't know," Indigo says simply.

Emira looks at Edric and nudges him forward "Go show them how to do it" 

Esric blinks at Emira "Me?"

Emira rolls her eyes "No the Chipgunk on your shoulder, yes you!" 

Edric blinks and steps forwards, after subtly glancing to be absolutely sure there wasn't a chipgunk on his shoulder, showing Indigo how he drew a circle in the air with his finger, it didn't do anything and simply stayed in the air "You have to think about channeling the magic from your heart to your hand, or feet or where ever you plan to cast from, like, some people can use their feet or a staff, but we should stick to fingers for now" 

Indigo looks at their hand for a moment "How do you know if you have magic?" 

All three blinked at Indigo "Well, I guess we just know because we were told we did, I mean I can tell when I'm low on magic so I dont keep using it, but other than that…" 

Edric rubs his neck, glancing at his sisters for help, neither seemed able to think of anything else to say.

Luz had simply sat on a nearby stump to watch them "You should try it Indigo, just think about drawing a circle in the air!" Luz encourages.

Indigo glances at Luz before looking back at their hand and raising it to try, thinking hard about creating a circle like Edric's, a trace of indigo appears at their fingertips as they trace a circle through the air, once they complete the circle, it vanishes but the look of delight on Indigo's face showed that it had accomplished its goal.

"I do have magic!" She says aloud, which startles the three other witches, they hadn't been expecting her to speak aloud so quickly.

"Wait, you can speak?" Amity asks

"Oh, right I forgot, I've been teaching them to speak so they can get into school and be a convincing student" Luz says with a grin "They still trip up on some things but we can just say that's their way of speaking"

"Yeh" Indigo says brightly.

"Like that for example" Luz clarifies, noting the lack of an "ah" in the word but knowing it could just be a choice of speaking.

Edric grins as the two girls look interested.

"Can you say our names?"

"Ed, Em and Amity"

"What about our full names?" Emira says testingly

Indigo seems to hesitate for a bit

"Em-eh-rah" they try, it sounds very awkward "and…. Ed-rick"

"Ed and Em is fine" Edric says softly and Em waves it off as fine as well, Indigo looks relieved.

"Well since we know you can do magic, now we just need to figure out what kind of magic suits you best" Edric continues and glances at Amity "Can you show them your Abomination summoning?" He asks.

Amity steps forward and draws a circle on the ground using her hand "Abomination, Rise!" She says and out of the ground comes a large Abomination.

Indigo, not knowing what an abomination was, yelps and falls over the stump behind them as they step back.

Luz quickly runs over to check if they were okay, as does Edric. The two pull Indigo up to it on the stump

"It's okay, it won't hurt you or anything, Amity is in complete control of it" Edric explains to the tensed up witch.

Amity sends the abomination away again "Even so, it's a very complex field of magic to start off with, maybe we should try something else"

"Hmm, what are light and fire magic classed as?" Luz asks the three.

"Those are just kind of generic spells, I don't think they fall into a specific class so to speak," Emira says from beside Amity.

"Maybe we could try that first? Light seems pretty easy" Luz says eagerly.

"Alright, most of the time you just have to think of what you want to create…" Edric spun a finger and created a small orb of almost aquamarine light, letting it float down so Indigo could see it clearly.

Indigo blinks and thinks carefully, she does the same thing Edric did and ends up with a small orb of indigo light, seeing this makes Indigo's eyes brighten dramatically.

Luz cheers happily for them.

"Good job" Emira says.

Edric doesn't say a word, just staring at the light orb for a moment before looking away once Indigo looked up at him.

"Alright, so, uh, we have one spell mastered, should we try fire now? Or maybe we could try some illusions?" He asks all of them.

Emira thinks carefully "Illusions are a little complex, but it would impress Bump if it was one of your first two mastered spells, hmm, we could try a simply vanishing illusion" Emira says, twirling a finger and vanishing, before reappearing behind indigo and making them jump as she poked their back to get their attention.

Indigo looked baffled before a glint of curiosity appeared in their eyes "Yeh, I wanna learn thah!" 

Edric holds back a giggle at the way Indigo spoke, their unique accent plus their sometimes incomplete words were quite cute.

Emira puts a hand on her hip "Alright well you'll have to be standing to start this one, it won't be nearly as easy as the light spell so don't be too upset if you don't get this one as fast" she instructs.

Indigo stands up and nods in understanding.

Edric moves to stand beside Emira and they both spin a finger, vanishing in a puff of smoke and appearing in the others place "For this, you have to know where you want to go and focus on that spot, for now you shouldn't try to go too far away, maybe just the top of that stump beside you" Edric says.

Indigo looks at the stump carefully, before nodding her head.

"Okay and one last thing, do NOT picture somewhere that someone else is already standing unless you are switching with them like me and Ed just did, the end result, while not harmful, can be very awkward" Emira warns.

Indigo nods and looks back at the stump, focusing hard on standing on top of it before trying the spell, nothing happened right away from Indigo's perspective, but a moment later they were falling through the sky!

Indigo lets out a yell and closes their eyes, spinning the finger and trying to think of where she had last been.

The wind was knocked out of Indigo as she landed somewhere, groaning as they lifted their head to see where they landed, they were in fact, laying on top of the back of Edric, Emira and Amity were running over with Luz hot on their heels.

Indigo rolls off of Edric "Sorry" they gasp out, Edric gives a cough and a strained "Dont worry about it" as he sits up.

"What just happened?" Luz asks as Emira and Amity kneel by Edric while she checks out Indigo.

"'Tried the spell, was in the sky, tried to ge' back…" Indigo tried to summarize, taking deep breaths between every few words.

Edric was unharmed for the most part, thankfully, he had been trying to find Indigo when they vanished and didn't appear right away, he had not expected them to materialise right on his back.

Emira checked the two for general injuries and found nothing.

"Really, I'm fine," Ed says several times as Emira asked him questions.

Indigo sat in silence for the most part, their knees at their chest so they could hug them, their mind was on the topic of where the heck they had ended up, they hadn't been thinking about the sky.

Once Emira was thoroughly sure that Esric wasn't hurt, she turned to Indigo "Where did you end up?" She asks.

Indigo points up at the sky "I was too high to ma'e out where abou's I was" they clarified softly, 

"That's…. Very unusual, even for your age your magic shouldn't be strong enough to take you that far, let alone so far off your intended goal" Emira says. "Are you one hundred percent sure you were thinking about going to the stump?" She asks, a little gentler, seeing just how freaked out Indigo seemed by her words.

Indigo was sure they had been thinking about the stump, right up until they spun, their finger, which reminded them of the morning before when Ed was a bat, which reminded them of flying…

Indigo lets their head fall against their knees with a groan of realisation.

"I was, but once I cast the spell I remembered flying yesterday…" they spoke in their head again, a bit too stressed to try speaking aloud anymore.

Emira blinks, nodding "Speaking generally, you really shouldn't have had the power to go beyond this clearing, the fact that you ended up so high means your magic is particularly potent in Illusions, you could probably give me and Ed a run for our money and we can go pretty far away" Emira tries to bring it to a positive conclusion but it seemed Indigo didn't see it that way.

Amity had pulled Luz aside to speak to her quietly out of earshot, Amity seemed to be feeling anxious about something and Luz seemed to be trying to reassure her.

Indigo stood soon after and started to walk off on their own, Edric was quick to follow after them even as his sisters told him not to bother them.

Indigo had found a small area to sit down in with decent sized boulders all around.

Edric hesitated as he saw where they were sitting, wringing his hands nervously, he wasn't necessarily great at cheering people up, but he wanted to try.

Edric scales the small boulder, finding Indigo had left just enough space for him to sit by them, they had probably known he would follow them.

"Hey, you okay?" Edric asks quietly.

Indigo sighs softly, choosing to speak through their mind again "I don't know, this is all really new to me, the light spell was really neat and I loved learning it, I guess I got pretty excited about learning the vanishing spell, but when i started falling, I haven't felt so afraid in my life, not even when i cut off my emotion tracking"

Edric nods "I'll bet, the most negative thing you were expecting for to happen was it not to work, its okay to be scared of what happened, but I hope you wont quit trying, even if it went that wrong, you still did the spell, just a bit too well, and you managed to recover and get back to us"

Indigo looks at their feet "I still hurt you" they think to him softly.

"It didn't hurt" Esric denies

"I can tell that it did hurt, it hurt you quite a bit more than you were willing to tell your sisters, I was falling at a considerable speed when I hit you, at the least you'll end up with severe bruising"

Edric makes a "psh" sound and waves a hand as if dismissing the fact "I've had worse, this one time me and Em were pulling an awesome prank on a teacher, but one of the ingredients kinda exploded, not sure how it happened, they should have all been completely harmless, either way I was able to keep Em safe by covering her up with a shield spell, but I ended up pretty beaten up afterwards, man our parents were furious with us" 

Indigo listens in silence as Ed speaks 

"A shield spell?" They ask quietly.

Ed glances over at them "Yeah watch!"

Ed spins a finger and some form of bubble substance covers them both on an aquamarine colour "I learned this one in secret, I just thought it'd come in handy in case… well the thing I just told you about happened" Ed shrugs and looks at the shield.

Indigo reaches out to push against the bubble, it only gives a little before pushing against their hand to prevent them going further.

"This seems powerful," Indigo observes.

"Yeah, Emira doesn't even know that I know it, she had her eyes closed the whole time, she thinks she just got lucky with where the blast hit, that it just so happened to only hit me, she'd be pretty mad if she knew I learned a spell I wasn't supposed to" Ed's ears droop a bit at the thought of Emira being more mad at him.

Indigo feels their own ears twitch a bit, it wasn't fair that Edric had to hide his capabilities like that, for fear of the cold shoulder, from his own family no less.

"Can you teach me the spell?" Indigo asks softly, looking at Edric again.

Edric looks back in silence for a moment, Indigo knew he was thinking carefully.

"They'll want to know how you learned it.." Edric says softly

"I'll just say you explained the theory, I mean is it any more complex than teleporting myself into the sky?" Indigo says in good humour and Edrix can't help but smile back as they give him a sweet look.

"I suppose not"

-Luz-

"They sure have been gone for a while" Luz comments quietly to Amity.

The three had sat, waiting for the two to return for almost half an hour now, Amity and Emira shared a large stump as a seat while Luz lay across an adjacent one, her face hanging over the edge to look at the two witches.

"Should we go check on them?" Luz continues when she is met with silence, the silence was almost deafening.

Luz notices that both the girls seemed to be off in their own heads.

"GUYS!" Luz yells loudly and both girls jump out of their skin in surprise.

"Luz!"

"What the heck?!"

"Well sorry but you were both away in Lala-land and they've both been gone for like half an hour, shouldn't we go check and see if they are safe?" Luz asks for the second time.

Emira and Amity look at each other then back at Luz.

Emira stands up "They might just be talking, I'll send Ed a signal, if he sends one back then he's fine, if he doesn't then we will go and find them" she explains and twirls a finger, sending a blue flare of fire into the air where it popped like a mini firework.

A minute passed without a second flare and Emira got nervous, another minute, and another.

"Okay come on they went this way!" Emira says urgently and runs in the direction the two had gone.

It didn't take long for them to run across an Indigo glow in the distance and stumble across a field of boulders covered in a large indigo shield.

Inside stood Indigo and Edric, it was clear Edric was trying to talk to Indigo urgently but they couldn't hear him through the shield, he made calming gestures which implied Indigo may have been distraught.

Emira ran up and started hitting the shield.

Both Edric and Indigo jumped away before realising who it was and running over, hitting it back.

Emira didn't understand why Indigo wasn't thinking to her through the shield, or perhaps the shield was what was blocking it? 

"Alright calm down!" Emira says and tries to make the motion to show what she is saying, the other two stop hitting the shield but neither looks particularly calm.

"Have you tried to dispel the shield?" Emira says, moving her arms like a game of charades.

Edric nods and makes a motion with his hands to imply something getting bigger.

"It gets bigger? Who cast it?" Emira asks and indicates between them.

Indigo raises her hand.

Emira covers her face with her hands for a moment.

"We might need the owl lady for this one" she says as she looks at Luz.

-One hasty explanation and irritated staff ride later-

"YOU TAUGHT AN EMPATH A SHIELD SPELL?!" Eda yells through the bubble, though the two didn't hear her, they could certainly tell just how angry Eda was right now.

Edric rubs his arm as Eda continues her angry rant.

"Of all the things! A shield spell! Do you realise how hard this shield is going to be to break? It'd take our old friend the Slitherbeast a week to break through this thing! Empaths are empowered by emotional stuff, the more they try while they're both distressed, the bigger it's gonna get!" 

Luz watches Eda pacing back and forth, thinking carefully about what to do.

"Okay no more attempts until we know for sure that they're calm enough" Eda says for starters before going back to thinking.

Emira makes gestures to try and get this across to the others.

The two anxious teens nod their heads from inside the bubble to show they understood.

"Alright, Empaths are a tricky lot, everything is centred around their emotions and those of the ones they care about, chances are it's the boys emotions making them anxious, which means he must be worried about something, any ideas?" Eda asks.

"Given their current situation, probably the fact that he might miss curfew and make mom and dad mad again" Emira says.

"Mmm, fair point but they wouldn't have started it, though it could definitely be what's fueling it to get bigger" Eda says after mulling it over.

"Edric has been kinda down lately to be fair, you've kinda given him the cold shoulder a lot Emira" Amity adds, which makes Luz and Eda glance over at the teen, who looks away.

"Well I was trying to make up for it," Emira replies defensively.

"And how's he gonna know that if you don't tell him, you have barely talked to him apart from telling him what to do!" Amity chides back "All you had to say was "Okay Edric, I'm mad but I don't hate you" would that have been so hard?" 

Emira glares at Amity and Amity glares right back, behind the bubble, Edric watches the silent screaming match continue, even Luz and Eda move away from the yelling siblings.

Eda tries to interject to calm the two down but quickly backs off as the two bark at her to keep out of it and return back to their argument.

Indigo looks to Edric in panic and he returns the look with one of desperation, the two quickly run out of sight behind a boulder.

Emira notices the movement and looks on as the bubble shrinks in on itself, centring around a small person sized boulder, both siblings run around it to see Edric with his face in his hands as Indigo tries to comfort him, neither look up as the two try to get their attention.

Amity looks at Emira "We upset him" she states bluntly.

Emira nods "yes, yes we did" she says as she sits on the ground "And it looks like none of us are making it back for curfew tonight" 

"No, can't imagine what they'll have in store for us when we get back" Amity says and sits by her sister.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, it was uncalled for" Emira says softly

"I shouldn't have blamed you for this either, it's my fault for starting it to begin with" Amity admits.

"Truce?" Emira asks and holds out a hand to Amity, who takes it and they shake one before dropping their hands to their laps.

Emira sighs and starts to speak again.

"I think I get why Edric ran off to the cave by himself now, he wanted to vent all this out without me telling him to just get over it like I always do, I don't mean it in a bad way! Its just, if mom and dad see him moping around they'll… things would get… a whole lot harder for him, you know how hard our parents can be, heck you take the brunt of it, you do everything perfectly and they're still really hard on you"

Amity nods her head "Yeah, I wasn't perfect in the beginning so… I became the scapegoat" 

Emira shivers at that term "No, you are my sister, and Eds too, we should have, worked harder to keep you safe from them, instead of teasing and pulling pranks all the time"

"How could you have known better? It's all our family has ever been, it's not like anyone told you what you were doing wasn't okay"

"You did, but it only really clicked once Luz arrived, then Indigo… hoo did they let us have it back at the cave, I mean our ears were at stake! I've seen those teeth, they could just bite em off!" Emira says and covers said ears protectively, making Amity laugh, it sounded so genuine, not tainted by sarcasm or spite.

By the time the two noticed, the bubble had long since vanished, Indigo was asleep on Ed's shoulder as he sat there, just watching them talk.

"Oh! They got it!" Amity says aloud.

"Yeah, more like they fell asleep and the spell dispersed itself" Emira whispers quietly but gets an elbow to the side "I mean yeah! They did it!" 

Edric gives a half hearted smile at the two of them "You two seem to be getting along better…" he observes quietly.

"Yeah we uh, we talked things out" Emira says "And… sorry Edric, for giving you the cold shoulder all this time, I was mad but that was no excuse to stop talking to you altogether like that, I know it can be lonely at home…"

Edric smiles softly and takes Indigo's hand, Indigo sits up and follows his lead with their eyes closed "Thanks guys" he says softly and glances at the sky "If we really book it we might just home for curfew"

"Ah jump on, I'll getchas there in no time" Eda says and makes them all jump, sitting on her staff.

Luz trots over and takes Indigos other hand "I can bring Indigo back to the owl house, you guys just get home on time" she says brightly, very relieved that everything was good with the three.

Edric releases Indigo's hand, with some difficulty this time as they didn't seem to want to let it go.

Ed transforms into a bat to make the ride home easier, clinging to Emira's shoulder as they flew home, landing nearby in a wooded area so the Owl lady wouldn't get spotted.

"Alright you three, go home to those…. Mmm probably should just leave it there shouldnt I?" Eda winks and makes the three smile as she flies off again unseen.

-Luz-

Luz guides Indigo back to the owl house with relative ease, she was very grateful that Edric's trick worked with her as well, she wasn't sure at first if it was going to work at all.

Once inside Indigo was guided to the sofa to sit down, once Luz lets go, they sink back into it, Luz tosses a blanket over them and sits by them to wait for Eda to get back.

-Amity-

Once the three checked in with their parents, they all headed up to Amity's room to talk things out.

"So, we agree then?" Amity asks.

"Yep"

"Absolutely"

All three put their hands through a circle Amity creates before them

"No more pitting against ourselves or each other"

"No more letting our parents bully Mittens"

"No more isolating each other"

The circle fades into their wrists with a soft glow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all are enjoying so far, this is a blast to write.


	9. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indigo experiences their first day at Hexide, what could possibly go wrong?

First day

It took a considerable effort to get Bump to agree to allow Indigo into the school, considering their age and their lack of learning the question was what had prevented them learning to begin with, Eda simply explained that their parents couldn't afford to send them when they were younger.

Bump eventually bought this as Eda started to go into detail about it, nakong it far more convincing than was even necessary.

"Alright, Alright, given their circumstances I will allow them to attend, can they perform the minimum of two spells?"

"Alright kid, show him what you got" Eda says and pushes Indigo forward.

Indigo steps forwards, blinking at Bump before spinning a finger to produce a bright Indigo light, before using a hand to carefully create a circle around themselves to create an Indigo bubble around themselves, spinning the other to disperse it, thanks to it only being Eda and Bump in the room, their mental state stayed calm and thy were able to send it away.

Bump seemed quite bored at the light spell, but his eyebrows peaked at the shield spell "Well well, that is an impressive spell for someone who has not attended school before, well done, I don't see any reason not to allow you into the general class, but now its a question of which track you will choose"

Bump indicates the banners behind him. 

Indigo had thought carefully on this after a long debate with Luz.

"Illusions and Bard" they say calmly.

Bump raises his eyebrows again "Hmm, you wish to double track? Mmm I suppose I cannot deny it given we have several students already, but know that you will be observed carefully to be sure you can keep up with both classes." Bump explains

Indigo nods "I understand Sir" they say calmly.

"Good, for now I shall ask you to head to the homeroom, do try to behave yourself" Indigo could swear that Bump was talking less to them and more to the Owl Lady who stood behind her.

"Your Homeroom shall be with Miss Screamshaw, room 305, first on the left of the third floor"

Indigo nods and stands to follow Eda out of the room, once out of sight the two exchange a small smile before heading to the given room, the teacher had yet to arrive as they had come in earlier than most, meaning Indigo wouldn't be immediately swamped with emotions and they could pick some nice ones to focus on.

"Alright kid, remember, if you get overwhelmed, call on your teacher and say…"

"Can I use the ba'hroom please?"

"Exactly, good pronunciations, you're getting better at this" Eda says and ruffles Indigo's hair, which Indigo doesn't mind, it was meant as affection so it was well received.

"Now get in there so I can go let Luz know you're in, she says she'll meet you outside your homeroom once its over to show you where to go next" 

Indigo nods and smiles, waving to Eda as she walks off to find the excitable human. Indigo enters the room, a few emotions hit them right off the bat, confusion, a lot of confusion but they were used to that, it did nothing to them so they could ignore it.

Soon the confusion shifts too many different emotions as Indigo notes quite a few students sitting at the back of the room. So far nothing negative had hit indigo so they simply chose a seat close to the front and sat down, setting down the books Eda had "acquired" for them to use.

A strong emotion of excitement hit Indigo and they had to keep a big smile off their face, they had to act like they didn't know the two twins as they walked into the room, both taking seats by them, Edric took the seat closest, that cute mischievous smile covered his face from ear to ear, Emiea's was just as wide and just as mischievous.

"Well hello there" Emira began, Indigo knew they were playing their parts, the kids at the back were watching them all now with curiosity.

"And who might you be?" Edric asks, leaning his face in close, only for Indigo to push it back again gently.

"Indigo" they reply in a friendly tone, tapping Edrics nose playfully, but to anyone else it'd look like she flicked it.

The playful "introductions" seemed to have fooled the rest of the class, Indigo felt no doubt from any of those present, more students trickled in and soon their teacher arrived.

"Ah, you must be Miss Indigo, Principal Bump informed me you would be joining our homeroom, I do hope you know how to behave appropriately" Indigo read the woman's emotions, she was anxious at the thought of another troublemaker joining her already troublesome class.

"I do Miss" Indigo assures though they knew the teacher doubted their words heavily.

The first half hour was spent getting to know the class, there were many unique individuals, though the teacher implied her class was full of troublemakers, Indigo saw no malicious intent from any of them towards her.

As the bell screamed, the teacher let out a weary sigh and dismissed the class.

Indigo gets up and grabs their books, noticing a mischievous feeling creeping into one of the many students' minds about the apple they had swapped for a pranked one on the teacher's desk.

As Indigo walked past, Edric bumped into them, knocking them into the desk and knocking the apple into the trash can.

Edric was quick to catch Indigo and apologised to both them and the teacher, who looks baffled.

Indigo reaches into their small bag and pulls out a new apple, though they had been looking forward to eating it themselves, they could tell when someone else was in need more.

The teacher was beyond skeptical but accepted it, her emotions grew annoyed just as she took a bite, but when nothing happened, they blinked, surprise filled Indigo's head once again, but it was soon replaced by a gentle happiness.

Indigo saw Luz waiting outside for them and waves as Luz came bolting over once they left Homeroom 

"Well?!" Luz asks and Indigo knew what they wanted to know

"Eh was fine, Luz" Indigo says, smiling as the young girl squee's and drags them along to their next class, well, after eventually asking Indigo for her schedule so she knows where to go.

The first few classes were quite calm, English, Biology, History, then came the specific track classes, that was when things became interesting.

The first up was Illusions class.

Indigo walks in and immediately spots the twins, they had a seat between them and both chose to wink and gesture them over.

"What happened to being subtle guys?" Indigo asks through their minds as they sit down. 

Emira passes a note carefully

"Edric is too impatient"

Edric scowls and takes the note, balling it up and eating it, causing Emira to splutter and try to get it back out of his mouth "Don't eat that you dummy!" 

Indigo has to work hard not to burst out laughing, the most any others could see, they were simply caught in between the twins usual antics.

Once the teacher arrived and began the lesson, it was clear just how advanced this class truly was, this class was focusing on the mastery of making a clone of yourself, like any other illusion it would just look real, like a mirror looked like another you.

Edric was asked to demonstrate and happily got up to show the class, making another one of himself with ease. Unsurprisingly the clone looked just as smug as Edric did before it was dispelled.

"Alright class I want you all to pair up, anyone who's mastered the spell already I want you to find a partner who's still working on it and help them"

Edric and Emira share a glance over Indigo's head and Emira gets up to go find a partner as Edric stays seated.

Indigo looks to Edric once they watch Emira head off and basically get swarmed by others wanting her to teach them.

"Alright newbie lets see what we can teach you" Edric says with a smug grin.

Indigo chuckles "Sure… Ed was eh?"" Indigo asks, simply to keep up the charade of having just met him.

"Edric, but I'll let you call me Ed, now clones are quite advanced, what do you already know about illusion magic?" Edric inquires, this was a subtle ask if they had learned anything else.

"I can vanish, but that's about it" Indigo says and spins a finger, vanishing from the seat and appearing in the one on the other side of Edric, which of course he doesn't realise till he gets flicked on the ear, but as soon as he looks they are once again gone and his other ear gets flicked.

"Hey! Quit it" Edric says and covers his ears to prevent them being flicked further

Indigo is back in their seat, trying to keep from laughing, they knew Edric wasn't mad, in fact he seemed impressed that they had gotten the hang of the spell, he just couldn't show it at the time.

"Alright, so making a clone of yourself is pretty self explanatory, you have to picture another you somewhere near you" Edric explains and once again creates a clone of himself, this time behind Indigo to flick their ear in revenge, obviously the clone can't touch their ear but Edric clearly didn't care.

Indigo just twitches the ear in response, humouring hin "Alright, I'll give it a try" they say calmly and try to picture themselves.

Luz had been pretty adamant that Indigo should have a look in the mirror when they had tried on their white robes, Luz had helped Indigo cut their hair, the top of their hair was cut short like Luz's, whereas the back was kept long, braided right down to the bottom near their waist, while any hair under their ears was cut down very short, it was a weird mash of different styles but Indigo had loved it, it was just as confusing as the rest of them.

Since Bump had given them their track uniform, they now sported red and blue on either side of their uniform with the black cowl and mid suit.

Indigo thought about creating another of themselves and spun a finger to try it, before them appeared about ten of themselves, all looking very confused.

Indigo was startled and so were all of their clones, every last one of them was just about to start hissing like Indigo had at Hooty, but Indigo managed to send them all away by thinking of removing them quickly with a spell.

Indigo glances at Edric who just snorts and tries to stop himself from laughing "I said one clone, you have to be very specific" Edric says and tries to seem annoyed but he just couldn't stop the laughter slipping into his voice.

Indigo nods and hides their grin of amusement well, trying again and specifically only thinking of making one clone appear, despite their intense focus on only making one, they still ended up with another ten, this time all over the room rather than just in front of them, Indigo hastily dispelled them and glanced at Edric.

Edric was in stitches until Indigo looked at him and he righted himself to look stern.

"Clearly you aren't focusing enough" Esric says, Indigo narrowed their eyes before realising what was happening and snorted before putting a hand on their face.

"You have caught me, I simply cannoh get enough o' myself" Indigo says and shrugs as Edric buckles at their monotone voice.

"What seems to be the problem Edric?" The teacher asks as she walks over, eyeing the two to find out what was happening, having been distracted by another student's attempt.

"Nothing Miss, Indigo seems to be having trouble making only one clone" Edric says as he straightens up and tries not to laugh.

The teacher glances at Indigo and raises a brow "Do show me" she invites with a hand gesture.

Indigo does the spell and once again about ten of them were standing all around Indigo, Indigo dispels it once again, by now the rest of the class were watching with interest.

"Hmm, you seem to be channeling too much of your magic into one spell my dear, you do know how to ease the flow of your magic yes?" The teacher asks in a softer voice, so the other students wouldn't hear, attempting to save Indigo from embarrassment.

Indigo tilts their head to the side, they didn't understand embarrassment enough to know if they felt it, though given it was due to piers being present and their only piers whose opinions mattered to them right now would already know why she had a lack of this knowledge, they didn't feel like it was something to worry about possibly feeling either.

"Ah'm afraid I don' Miss" Indigo says just as softly.

A snicker from the back and the feeling of superiority invades Indigo's positive mind and makes their eyes tighten, they didn't like it but they'd have to tolerate it.

"But Miss, I must say I'm impressed with their quick learning, granted they can't control the number, but they understood and cast the spell to its intended result flawlessly on the first attempt, the number of perfect clones also shows how skilled they are at Illusions wouldn't you say?" Edric says strongly, he had glanced back to glare at someone behind them.

Indigo felt that feeling vanish and be replaced by irritation.

The teacher smiles at Edric's words "Why yes I do believe that to be accurate Mr Blight, an astute observation indeed, perhaps you could assist them in their magic control since that seems to be the cause of the trouble?" 

"But of course Miss" Edric says with a flourish that just makes the teacher smile and walk on.

Once the teacher was definitely distracted Edric turns back to Indigo who raises a brow.

"What? I wasn't planning for her to notice" he says with a shrug.

"You added 9 clones on'o the one I made"

"Hey you did the first ten yourself, I was just messing with you the second time" 

"So, you goin' 'o teach me how 'o control my magic?" Indigo says with a half smile.

Edric grins back and begins explaining carefully about magic flow.

-Luz-

Lunchtime bell screamed and soon the cafeteria was full of people clambering to get seats or their lunch trays.

Luz pulls out her lunch bag and scarfs down a sandwich.

Willow and Gus had joined Luz within moments with their own lunches. 

"Hey Luz, is it true Eda enrolled another student here? Everyones talking about them like they have two heads, do they have two heads?! That would be so cool!" Gus asks excitedly.

Luz swallows her bite of sandwich, she had to remember the story they discussed, Indigo was supposed to have come from Skullsdale, they were from a family who couldn't enroll them at school there and eventually sent them here to Eda.

"Sorry Gus, they don't have two heads, they just look a little strange to anyone they meet" Luz replies with a smile

"Aww…"

"Strange how?" Willow asks

Amity walks into the cafeteria with Indigo behind her along with the twins, a group of kids follows after them eagerly, it seemed Indigo had run into the tiny ones and now the group was following them around.

Indigo sits across from Luz, the twins take either side and Amity sits by Emira, the kids scarper off out of sight, once they are gone Indigo puts their arms on the table and lets their head fall into them.

Emira pats her back and promptly explains "The baby class chased them all around the school, we had to act as bodyguards, even though they just wanted to hug them" Emira adds and smirks down at the exhausted empath.

"They were tryin' teh kill meh!" Indigo says through her arms.

"No they weren't… Draxis is too sweet to kill anyone" Amity defends the little ones "They all just really like you"

"I didn' mean they mean' teh, i mean' their emotions were 'o much, theh were 'o excited, they woulda crushed meh"

Indigo had lifted her head mid sentence and realized that there were others there, remembering they couldn't talk about reading emotions and switching tactics, their weird accent became worse with their hurried words.

Indigo read the two new kids pretty quickly and decided they liked them almost immediately, they both adored Luz, despite all the times the human had gotten them into trouble, Willow was a very happy person, despite how she used to be treated, Indigo could feel some left over tension from previous events directed towards Amity, but other than that, the girl was just the sweetest with her emotions.

Gus was one heck of a positive person, but his melodramatic emotions were also quite high as well, when he got sad, he got extremely sad, or anxious or mad.Either way Indigo enjoyed his playful emotions.

At the moment the two were watching Indigo as they looked exhausted with sympathetic smiles, they had both noticed Indigo's odd speech and neither seemed off-put or saw it as some defect to them.

"Well, I'll be sure to explain to them that they can't rush you like that," Amity says simply.

Indigo nods their head in thanks and glances at the other two, they supposed they should really introduce themselves since they didn't actually know them yet and it would be odd to know their names already.

"Heyeh, yeh friends weh Luz?" Indigo asks, their tiredness made their pronunciation even worse.

Gus and Willow beam at Indigo "Yeah!" Gus answers eagerly "I like your hair! The shaved style is like mine!"

Willow smiles sweetly "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Willow and this is Gus!" 

"Am Indigo," Indigo says with a smile, reaching out a hand to shake Willows offered one gently.

Luz looked delighted as Indigo began chatting to Gus and Willow, making light conversation, Indigo explained their lack of knowledge with magic and the two were more than understanding.

"You'll get it in no time!!" Gus encourages with a double thumbs up while Willow nods

"Some of us are just late bloomers, so long as you put in the effort to learn, you'll get there!" Willow says brightly.

Indigo adored the sheer positivity all around them at that moment but it was short lived as tiny feelings of panic erupted in the head.

"The kids!" Indigo thinks and immediately jumps up and books it out of the cafeteria, none of their group had any idea what was happening but all of them followed.

The little witchlings were huddled together as a large dog-like creatures prowled the corridor, a coyotree, its body consisted of bark and hardened sap, its back covered in leaves, it must have disguised itself in the green house.

Indigo slid into view on the opposite side of the corridor, once they saw what they were up against, they froze, they had never fought anything before, but given this creature's emotions were simply hunger, perhaps they wouldn't have to.

"Heyah! Hungreh? Why noh come geh meh then!" Indigo calls and banks a locker to make enough noise to get its attention.

The coyotree turns and snarls, charging at Indigo, who bolts away, the creature crashes down the corridor after them.

Indigo doesn't have time to think, once they round another corner, they jump up onto the lockers and run up the wall, surprisingly it works and they're able to cling to the wall, they don't know how they knew they could do this, but they were thankful they could, this corridor was a dead end.

The coyotree crashes into the corridor and tries to jump up at Indigo as they cling to the wall, its splintering jaws snapped at their feet.

Indigo wasn't afraid, but they could feel the fear of anyone who knew what was happening, this didn't help, it made their arms and legs shake and their eyes a little fuzzy.

A sharp pain hit Indigo's ankle and they kicked out as one of the splinters dug into their ankle from those jaws snapped far too close to it.

The kick hit the coyotrees snout and it fell on its side for a moment before getting up and prowling down below them.

Indigo couldn't remove the splint from their ankle, not without releasing the wall and plummeting to the floor, but it definitely hurt enough to be tempting, but why would they do that? What was wrong with them? That was a dumb idea, why were they so very dizzy?

Several fuzzy looking green and brown shapes slid into view behind the creature, there was a flash of orange and purple and the creature yelps and bolts off quickly, one of the green and one of the brown blurs follow after the creature while the other blurs run forward.

"Indigo let go! We got you!" Came a familiar and comforting voice.

Indigo does as instructed, sliding down the wall and falling over the lockers in their daze.

Two pairs of arms catch Indigo, they focus more on their emotions to identify them. Edric and Emira, that didn't surprise them, what did surprise them was the third set of emotions belonging to the girl named Viney they had a one sided encounter with before.

Viney thankfully didn't show any signs of knowing them, but their concern and the feeling of them being impressed at Indigo were enough to validate them to Indigo themselves.

"Ah, darn splinter, no wonder they're so out of it, Coyotree splinters are painful and coated in a weird saliva that makes someone unsteady and confused, hold them still, I can get it out, but it won't be pleasant" came the familiar voice of Viney.

Indigo understood the words but when something touched the splinter, their mind panicked and they squirmed, both the arms holding them tightened and two voices tried their best to calm Indigo, tried to explain what was happening, Indigo couldn't absorb any of it, it was frustrating for Indigo not to be able to control themselves properly.

The pain was gone… but there were no arms around Indigo, instead a weird feeling over them like a thin sheet of fabric.

Indigo opened their eyes to find themselves on their back, they did not like that! Indigo sat up quickly, a little too quickly, their head spun as they lifted a knee to rest it on.

"Indigo!" Came several worried voices, Indigo felt a flood of relief and happiness hit them like a sweet smell of flowers and sugar, it made them relax slowly and they could lift their head to see several pairs of eyes glancing back at them.

It took a few seconds to identify everyone.

Luz, Ed, Em, Amity, Willow, Gus, Viney and the four little kids she had saved from the creature.

Indigo tries to smile slowly "Heyeh" they say softly and raises a hand.

"Oh my gosh you're okay!" Luz says and bolts forward to hug them, Indigo moves in anticipation of the hug, accepting the girl into their arms and trying to hug them back.

"Yeh, am ahrite" Indigo says, their speech was less than ideal but they knew Luz could understand them.

"You were so cool!" Said a tiny voice from one of the kids, another spoke up with a deep voice "Thank you for saving us!" "Yeah!" Came the other two's voices.

"Neh problem" Indigo replies, Luz still hadn't let go so they couldn't do much else but hug the girl back.

"That was stupidly brave of you" came Vineys voice from beside Emira "That was a clever trick, luring it off, I'm curious how you stuck to the wall like that"

Indigo thought about it for a moment "Ah gottah be honest, Ah dunno how ah did thah" Indigo says softly, Luz finally releases Indigo and almost immediately they get swarmed by the kids, they tried their best not to overload with the kids excited thanksgiving, though since it was a positive emotion their overload simply looked like someone who adored cute things getting swarmed by them, they just looked incredibly happy and were kind of stuck that way until the kids let go.

Once Indigo was back to reality they realised that the twins looked a little beat up, yet they were smiling at them like nothing had happened.

"Whah happened teh you two?" Indigo asks.

Em and Ed glance at each other a shrug "You were too confused to hold still while Viney got the splinter out of your ankle" Emira says 

"So we had to hold you still" Ed says "Which you obviously didn't appreciate" 

"But you calmed down pretty quick once we got it out" Viney adds "These two will be fine, I've checked them, they just have a few small bruises"

Indigo slumps back a bit "Sorreh guys" they said softly.

"Ah no problem, besides, you're the one who worked out the threat! No one else even knew that thing was in the school till you went running off at it" Edric says. 

"Yeah, how did you know it was in here?" Viney asks curiously

"Ah… heard the kids" Indigo answers honestly, it wasn't a lie, they just didn't tell them that they heard their terrified emotions rather than their scared voices.

The little one's teacher comes in just in time to save Indigo from getting more questions, coming over to check them all.

Indigo swung their legs over the side of the bed, as Luz had called a similar looking thing in her room before, in an attempt at standing up.

Viney was quick to step forward and firmly place a hand on Indigo's shoulder 

"Sorry but healers orders are for you not to be standing for at least an hour, that toxin in the coyotrees bite could still be active for a while"

Indigo looked down, they didn't feel dizzy or confused anymore, though Viney spoke with practiced authority, Indigo could read that her actions were purely out of concern for them, so rather than causing them grief or annoyance, Indigo slung their legs back onto the bed.

"So what happened to the… Cotoytree" Indigo asks "I'm pretty sure I saw you two chasing it" they point a finger between Luz and Amity who both grin.

"Viney said they hated fire, me and Amity both know how to make fire, so we scared it off the grounds together!" Luz says proudly, slinging an arm around Amity with glee.

Amity went bright red for the whole 5 seconds until Luz retracts her arm to pump her fists in the air.

Indigo could tell who among the group was aware of why Amity was that red, Emira was very clearly aware, Edric as well, Gus seemed oblivious to it, whole Willow just smiles, but the kind of smile made it seem like she knew. Viney was sitting by the bed to ensure Indigo didn't go anywhere, she wasn't paying much attention but from the one glance and sympathetic smile she gave, it was clear even she knew.

Amity became aware of all the eyes on her, her ears pressed against her head and turned bright red.

Edric decided to be the hero for Amity and brought all the attention to himself when he discovered a jar of cotton balls and gleefully took one, smirking as Emira gasps 

"Don't you dare Ed!" 

Edric slowly stands as Emira gets up quickly, both pause before Edric bolts away with the jar as Emira runs after him.

The whole group bursts out laughing as the twins run back and forth, occasionally vanishing after each other as well.

Ed had successfully eaten 5 of the cotton balls out of the jar before Emira caught him and snatched it away, out of breath, she walked back and handed it to Viney who just held it.

Indigo sees their chance and grabs a handful to stuff in their mouth, Emira yells at them to spit them out but Indigo just grins as Edric sits by them and they do a strange arm bump with their forearms.

"Oh my titan there's two of you now!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is meant to be Lumity centred but be patient, it os coming very soon, I just wanted to develope Indigo a little before things really kicked off.


	10. PalisMeant for You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is following Indigo aroynd, a new feeling is felt and Indigo doesn't know what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Lumity cuteness as prmoised but also a little drama for good measure.

PalisMeant for You

To say Indigo's first day was eventful would be an understatement. Word had slowly gotten around school about the new kids heroism and a lot of students now wanted to engage with them.

This was NOT ideal. 

Indigo was currently hiding in an empty classroom, a lot of emotions swirling in their head making them dizzy.

Indigo groans quietly, pressing their palms to their forehead in an attempt to suppress some of it somehow.

Of course the action did nothing to soothe the constant flurry of anxiety, nervousness, paranoia and pressure that this place seems to emanate with.

After leaving the infirmary an hour or two ago, Indigo had been to something called General Education, it had been helpful, but there were a lot of new and very curious faces who, after class, decided to swarm them, causing them to get seperated from Ed and Em who had shared the class with them but were unable to sit near them this time. 

Indigo had panicked upon being swarmed and had literally run up the wall and across the roof to get away from the crowd of kids, though the kids just saw an awesome trick being performed and cheered a bit.

So now Indigo stood, books on the floor with their head in their hands and one nasty headache, there weren't nearly enough positive emotions nearby to quell the horrible ones.

A clicking sound made Indigo's head snap up to see the chalkboard before them opening, they hadn't noticed the drawing of a door with a keyhole in the middle when they ran inside this room.

As the door opened, Indigo could feel positivity and latched onto it immediately, they recognised it as Viney's, which made them sigh with relief as said girl poked her head out of the door and spotted Indigo.

"Hey, you okay? You look stressed, is the ankle giving you trouble? Or maybe the coyotree toxins still in your system?" Viney asks as she slides out of the door.

"Nah, 's not thah" Indigo says quietly, one hand still rubbing their head "Am jus' a bih overwhelmed ah guess, alo'ah people know me all o' a sudden, 's jus' too much teh handle" Indigo puts their other hand back at their side as Viney walks over to examine their eyes.

"Yeah first day fame can be scary, but also short lived, once the next big story hits the grape vine, you'll not have to worry about it" Viney reasaures them gently, she could see they were under some kind of stress, even if they didn't want to say what exactly it was.

"If you want… I can help you get to class on time without having to be in the corridors" Viney suggests "Just till this blows over"

Indigo looks down at Viney, being a head taller than her and gives a soft half smile, remaining silent for a moment before nodding.

Viney couldn't read their mind but it felt like she didn't need to, it's like she could feel their gratitude radiating from them, and thus, Viney led the way to the chalkboard and hopped in with Indigo not far behind.

-Luz-

"YOU LOST THEM?!" Luz says in panic with her hands on either side of her head.

Ed and Em rub their arms and nod

"They got swarmed when they left the room and by the time we got through the crowd they were long gone, We couldn't sit with them, we ended up at the back of class while they were at the front" Emira explains.

Luz thinks carefully, an idea strikes her and she begins running down the corridor, stopping to yell "Follow me!" Back at the twins.

Ed and Em follow Luz quickly as they head for a small room, the door had small bars in the window and so did the actual windows.

Luz looks to the chalkboard "Yes! Someone in there still, hopefully they can help us find Indigo!" Luz says, tapping the chalk keyhole and opening a doorway.

The twins eyebrows shoot up as Lux crawls into the passageway 

"Cmon!" Luz calls through from the other side, the twins head inside where they are greeted with a small corridor and a wooden door with a "KEEP OUT!" Sign on it.

Luz trots up to the door and opens it carefully "Hello?"

"Luz!" Came a familiar voice.

Emira felt a little blush come to her cheeks and had to shake her head to stop it 

Edric had, of course, noticed but chose to leave his teasing till later on.

Luz pulls back the door and the twins get a good look at the hall of doors, Luz was already walking towards Viney, who had just shut a door.

"Viney! I gotta ask for your help, we can't find our buddy Indigo anywhere, can we use your door to…" 

Luz pauses as Viney holds up a hand

"Relax, your friend is fine, I saw them in the detention room by themselves, they looked really stressed out, so I got them to their next class through here so no one could bother them" she explains and points to a door behind them.

Luz lets out the breath she was holding while Viney spoke "Oh thank you! They aren't really good with big crowds y'see"

Viney nods "I figured, once word gets around that someone did something cool, they get all the attention for a while till something else happens"

Ed decides now is a good time to gently butt Emira forwards and walks with her so they end up beside Luz.

"Oh yeah I hope you don't mind, I showed them here cuz they're the ones who are kinda showing Indigo where to go" Luz says and rubs the back of her head.

Viney glances at the Blight twins, sending them a smile "I don't see a problem with them knowing about this"

Edric is quick to grin back and, rather than relish in Emira's embarrassed face, chooses to take the heat off her.

"How's Puddles doing by the way?" Ed asks eagerly

"Oh she's doing great! She seems to love you two, that's how I know you are both trustworthy" Vineys says with a grin.

Edric grins at that and elbows Emira "Here that Em, we are trustworthy!"

Emira snorts and looks to the side "Yes I heard" she says and tries to hide her very pleased smile.

"Well, since you guys came here, I can help you all get to class on time too, it's gonna start in a few minutes, where you all headed?" Viney asks.

"Oh we are back in Illusions again" Ed says quickly.

"I'm in Abominations with Amity!" Luz says with excitement.

"Illusions is third up, Abominations is fifth" Viney says and points to the staircase.

-Amity-

Amity Blight had seen a lot of strange things when getting to class early, one she had not been expecting was the sight of Luz walking out of the wall and closing it behind her, she was sure she was halLUZinating, ugh she has been hanging around Luz too much, now SHE was making bad puns, but it was so dumb she thought Luz would probably adore it.

Amity watches Luz until Luz turns and yells, falling backwards, right into a seat, which Amity may or may not have used a spell to move so the fragile human didn't hurt herself.

"Whoa! Amity! Your early, I mean, of COURSE you're early, you're Amity!" Luz says as she stands and makes an awkward gesture, one that Amity remembered making herself on the day of that grudgby match with Boscha

, she remembered internally cringing after that word vomiting, so rather than let the poor human continue, she simply put on a smile.

"Oh, so it was you, for a moment I thought I was… hal-LUZ-inating" 

Luz stared slack jawed for about ten second before the biggest, goofiest smile erupted on her face and she burst out laughing.

"Pffffft HAHAHAHAHA Oh my gosh! that was so good, oooh! You have GOT to let me use that!" Luz looks at her pleadingly.

"It's all yours"

"Yes! I'll be sure to give you ALL the credit for it"

"Please don't" 

"Hehehe!"

The two had basically sat bantering till the class started.

Luz had been slowly experimenting with a new glyph idea, it mostly consisted of watching Amity summon a small hand sized Abomination and trying to work out if there were any glyphs she could make out from it, so far all attempts had yielded nothing, but Luz was determined to make it work.

The Abominations teacher was surprisingly patient with Luz and even encouraged her to continue watching his "Top student" as he figured if anyone could help them it would be Amity

"Well, Miss Noceda, how is the progress?" The stubby man asks as he approaches their shared desk.

Luz was studying the abomination carefully.

"I'm thinking maybe it could be the face this time!" Luz says and begins trying to draw a new glyph.

Amity glances at the teacher who just smiles and clasps his hands together, in hope that this one might be right.

Once finished, Luz taps the paper, it crinkles but nothing happens.

"Darn! I thought I had it this time" Luz says and slumps forward with a sad little noise.

"Do not fret Miss Noceda, Abominations are a complex spell! Even Miss Blight has to give her all when creating one, do not be discouraged. I have the utmost faith that you will figure this out!" The teacher says as he is carried off by his personal abomination.

Luz lifts her head at the teachers words and gets the most psyched up look on her face.

Amity smiles softly as Luz gets right back to trying to draw a new glyph, her eyes were narrowed with concentration and she stuck out her tongue a little. That look alone made Amity giggle before looking back at her abomination, it sat on the table and moved its head too and fro every so often, it's dark eyes with small dots for irises looked up at its master and her partner every once in a while.

Amity began to wonder if being small was really the best way to study it, Luz had to squint to see it properly, what if the glyph was hidden in a minute detail rather than a full body thing.

Amity glances back at Luz and sees yet another failed glyph crumple up, but this time the humans eyes didn't lose their spark.

"Hey Luz?" Amity begins but her confidence falters as Luz gives her her undivided attention, which involves a very cute looking smile and wide expectant eyes.

"Yeah Amity?" Luz asks when Amity doesn't continue.

Amity clears her throat and chooses to look at her abomination rather than those very distracting brown eyes.

"I think maybe you can't see what might be the glyph because this one is too small, you said before you found the flower glyph by using a magnifying thing, so what if the glyph is really small, me making such a small one could be hiding it from view" Amity explains as she picks up the abomination, glancing sideways at Luz to find her looking at the abomination, tapping her chin with a finger with her arms crossed but arm held up to let her hand support her chin.

"That… would make sense!" Luz says and pulls her arms away to drop a fist into her palm before looking at Amity "How big of an abomination do you think you could make?" She asks gleefully.

Amity thinks back to Grom, wondering if she could pull off such a large abomination once again, she had definitely been at her best then, what with being able to dance with her crush and all, but she didn't want to disappoint Luz.

"I'm not sure but we can try later, I don't think the teacher wants a huge abomination being summoned in the classroom right now" Amity says, smiling as she looks back at Luz but feeling her face redden as Luz looks at her in excitement 

"I can't wait! We might finally crack the abominations glyph!" Luz says and pumps a fist in excitement, 

-Indigo-

Viney made good on her promise, for the rest of the day, Indigo was personally escorted through the hall of doors to whichever class they had to get it on time and before anyone else was around so they didn't get swarmed.

Indigo also met two others who used the room, a tall lanky boy named Jerbo and a small canine named Barcus, who Jerbo often translated for. 

Indigo enjoyed the brief chat they had with the two but after the first meeting they didn't get to see them again that day, before they knew it the day was over.

Indigo grabbed their books, ready to head to the entrance to meet Luz and head back to the Owl house, but halted in their tracks when they felt something, it felt like eyes were on them, knowing eyes.

Indigo shivered and looked around frantically, all the students were simply packing up to leave, no one's gaze was on them, but a flutter at the window drew their eyes to a pair of… birds?

Indigo stared at the birds, they didn't know what species they were, one was jet black with red eyes and the other was pure white with dark blue eyes. 

Indigo felt something in the pit of their stomach… it wasnt fear… nor anger or regret… this was new, this was horrible and Indigo did NOT want it, they tpoe their eyes from the birds and hurried to get out of the room.

Making their way through the halls, Indigo avoided looking through any windows, for the sheer unease they felt that the birds would be there, driving them to keep their eyes pinned forward.

A hand touching their shoulder made Indigo jump and recoil, they hadn't been focusing on any emotions and had missed the pleasantness that Rdric always gave off around them, yet now he was startled by their reaction.

Edric's positivity dwindles into worry almost immediately and it made Indigos stomach squirm, they didn't know if they could take that for very long, so they quickly played their rearcton off as a joke, pulling up a fake smile, well it be fair it was only half fake, of all the people they knew, Edric was the one they needed right now, he always made them want to smile.

Edric bought their "joke" and laughed "So you gonna head back to the owl house with Luz?" He asks cheerfully.

"Yeh, she said teh meet 'er at the entrance" Indigo explains, Edric's calm, positive attitude was already helping soothe some of their worries and that horrible feeling. 

"Mind if I walk with you? Emira wanted to go explore the hall of doors, but I think she just wants to hang out with Viney some more" Edric says with a wink.

Indigo chuckles lightly to themselves.

Edric gasps and points "Wait… you would know wouldn't you?!" He says excitedly and points at them as they begin walking slowly to the schools entrance.

"Ah couldn't tell yeh even if ah wanted teh Ed" Indigo says teasingly.

"Aw come on please? I swear I won't tell her you told me" Edric says pleadingly.

"Sorreh, no' even yer cutes' looks gonnah geh meh talkin' Ah refuse teh share somethin' thah personal" Indigo says and boops the boys nose with a finger.

"Awww, but you can tell if someone feels something for someone else?" Edric asks curiously, also a little worriedly.

"Ah can, yeh" Indigo confirms.

"Right, right" Edric says quickly

"Are yeh worried about meh knowin somethin?" Indigo asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope!" Edric says quickly.

"Funneh… cuz yah been tryin' teh block yer mind fer a while now" Indigo says and pokes his forehead

"... Is it working?" Edric asks hopefully.

Indigo chuckles at the blatant confession.

"Ah mean a li'le, bu' it dunt really help when ah already know whah yer hidin' now do it?" Indigo asks and Edrics ears go bright red.

"Wait you know?!" He asked desperately, he looked panicked and the last thing Indigo wanted was to worry the poor boy.

"Nah man Ah'm messin whichah" Indigo says quickly "Yer secrets safe so long as yeh keep it up, ah ain' gunna pry, if yeh really dun' wan' meh teh know then Ah ain' gunna know"

Indigo watches the panic melt away into relief and a thankful look.

"Thanks Indie, I will tell you sometime but…not yet" Edric lowers his gaze, but lifts it again as the two head out of school.

Indigo was momentarily wondering who "Indie" was before realising Ed was using a "nickname" as Luz called it, an affectionate way of calling someone by something else to show friendship.

Indigo felt pleased, they liked that nickname, especially since Edric chose it for them.

Once outside, the two look around "Hmm, Luz isn't around.. maybe they got held up in class, Amity should be meeting me here too" Edric says.

Indigo focuses for a moment through all the buzzing emotions to try to locate the two people they were after, it only took a moment to find those budding feelings of ecstatic joy and flustered nerves. 

"Thah weh" Indigo points and starts in that direction.

Edric follows quickly as they head around the school to a small forested area where they were greeted by the summoning of a large abomination, which of course, took Indigo by surprise and made them step back, straight into Edric, who held fast so they didn't bolt away, which they initially tried to.

"Relax, relax, I'd know Amity's abomination magic anywhere" Esric says soothingly, letting go of them as they slowly calmed.

"Ah dun' like them things" Indigo says, though they were over the shock, they still slunk behind Edric, gripping the back of his shirt for support.

Edric didn't seem to mind and simply looked up at the abomination 

"Must be her biggest one yet, wonder what she's doing summoning it here" Edric says and looks around, the abomination seemed to be picking something up, which, on closer inspection appeared to be Luz, who held something up to the creatures eyes, looking through it carefully.

"Whah she doin?" Indigo asks from behind Edric

"No idea, but it's Luz so I'd hesitate to even guess" Edric says calmly.

"Ah don' like that eh's got 'er like thah" Indigo says and grips Edric's shirt tighter, making him flinch a little.

"Easy now, its Amity's if there's one thing I do know, its that if anything, that's the safest place can and ever will be" Edric says and turns to place a hand on indigo's arm

Indigo looked over at the scene again, the mud creature didn't look very inviting, but Luz held no fear at all for it, Amity's emotions were even and careful.

Indigo nods once when Edric gives them a pat on the arm 

"Ah s'pose yer right, ah just… don' like em, ah canneh tell whah it's thinkin', it doesn feel anythin' ah all" Indigo says with a shudder.

Edric nods "I'm sure that's unsettling for you, but it's under Amity's complete control, so just think of it as having Amity's feelings instead, it's just like an extension of her, look how gently its holding Luz up"

Indigo tilted their head a bit and thought about that, it made sense, so they simply began examining the creature and letting Amity's emotions run through their mind instead of its only empty blackness of a mind.

A lot of care, trust, intrigue and love was the end result, Indigo began to see it in how the creature held and looked at Luz, those eyes seemed to look directly at Luz as she examined them, its hands held Luz, not tightly or contrainingly, but just enough to give them the boost they needed to see what they needed to see, its mouth, while definitely not smiling, was kind of evened out rather than frowning.

Something white flew by behind the creature and caught Indigo's attention in all the worst ways, the feeling was back, and so where those birds.

Indigo felt their grip on Edric tighten so much the boy audibly yelped and had to reach back to pull their hand off of him

"Indie! Hey, hey!" Edrics snaps his fingers in front of them and brings them out of their horrified staring match with the two birds, their eyes snap to his instead.

"What's wrong?!" Edric says quickly, his eyes dart up to the birds they had been looking at, slight recognition in them before darting back to theirs.

"Ah dunno, when ah see them birds Ah feel… I dunno whah eh is an' Ah don like eh an ah don wanna feel eh!" Indigo says rapidly, they were trying to get out of Edrics tight hold, he had their hand caught in his and refused to let go easily.

"Hey, hey, they're a pair of Mimicdaes, the most they could do to you is mimic your voice, there's no reason to be afraid of them"

"Am no' scared o' them!" Indigo practically yells at Edric "Ah jus' wan' teh ge' away from em! Somethin' feels wrong an ah don'' like eh, now le' meh go!" Indigo pulls hard at their hand but Edric, even to his own surprise, doesn't yield, he instead gets dragged along a bit till Indigo does something he hadn't expected.

Driven by the instinct to get away from the birds, Indigo leans forward and opens their mouth, as if ready to bite Edric's hand, Edric let's go out of sheer surprise and falls back as Indigo also stumbles back.

Indigo's eyes, locked on Edric, filled with regret and for a moment they reach out, as if to apologise, but one of the birds moves and their eyes flicker back to them, in panic, Indigo bolts away.

"Indie wait!" Edric yells, he runs after them as soon as he is on his feet, but once they were out of sight, there was no way to track them down, Edric stopped and started calling to Indigo, the forest they had run into was juge and full of very dangerous creatures! 

Edric knew going in alone was a very bad idea, for once Edric chose to do the smart thing and ran back towards the school, first getting Amity and Luz and catching them up on what happened, they all went to find Emira, which meant they also found Viney.

"So they just ran off into the forest? Because of some Mimicidaes? They do know those things are harmless right?" Viney asks as she rides Puddles with Emira behind her, scouting the forest for any sign of the missing witch.

Edric nods "I told them that, they said it wasn't out of fear, but then what would make them run like that from some birds?" Edric seems to be talking more to himself.

Luz and Amity sat in front of Edric on Owlbert, whom Luz had borrowed from Eda. Both girls scanned the forest.

"Either way, it's not good that they're out here all alone, anything could and would pick them off in sec...Ow" Vinry is briefly interrupted as Emira gives her a pinch and a quick "Sh" before jutting her head at Edric, who was paling with every word she said.

Viney glances at the worried boy and at Emira but giving an apologetic look at her and nodding.

"But don't worry, me and Puddles know this place like the backs of our… uh… feet! If anyone can find them, it'll be us first" 

This little speech seems to give Edric a little more colour back and his eyes started searching a lot harder again.

"There!" Came Amity's voice. Luz turns her head to see Indigo heading inside a familiar alcove 

"Oh shoot! Indigo wait!" Luz cries out and dives towards them quickly, causing both amity and Edric to hold on for dear life as they plummet very quickly.

Indigo's head snaps around and they jump into a tree, scaling it quickly to get out of Owlberts path as Luz puts her feet down to stop, sending all three of the staff's passengers over it and into a heap.

Luz lay under Amity who was being squashed under Edric, who slid off them quickly so his poor red faced sister could scamper off of Luz and let her sit up.

Indigo slid down the tree to stand half behind it, their eyes checked all three over as their mind searched for any pain in their emotions, finding none, Indigo chose to stay behind the tree.

Edric was the first to stand up 

"What the heck Indigo?!" He demands angrily "Do you have any idea how dangerous this place is?! You could have been eaten alive!"

Amity and Luz look at Edric in surprise, it was very odd to see him of all people getting angry, especially AT Indigo.

Indigo cringes away, this was why they chose to hide, they had felt Edrics anger as soon as the three had landed, he was furious with them, specifically for putting themselves into what he deemed unnecessary danger.

Indigo doesn't reply after Edric's outburst and this only spurs him on to keep speaking

"Like, seriously? Those birds were harmless, why the heck did you have to run all the way out here because of them? Did their emotions tell you something? Why didn't you just tell me?!"

This spurred Indigo to speak back 

"Ah did! Yah though Ah was jus' scared!"

"Well yeah! You acted scared! You nearly ripped the back of my shirt off when they appeared, then you tried to bite me to get away from them! If that doesn't scream scared then what does?" Edric demands back, but his anger was fading fast, it was rapidly being replaced by his natural concern and care for Indigo.

Indigo wasn't angry at Edric, his response was completely valid, nothing he said or did was unfair or unreasonable, granted he misinterpreted their emotions but then again, they didn't even know what they were feeling.

Indigo looks at the two girls behind Edric, neither had made a move or said a word, they just looked worriedly between the two, Amity, to her credit, also knew the thing Edric thought he was keeping secret in his head, this caused another level of worry in her mind.

Indigo's eyes flick back as Edric moves forward since they hadn't responded.

Indigo stayed perfectly still as Edric walked right up to them, wordlessly opening his arms to them. 

Indigo doesn't hesitate, they immediately jump forward to accept the hug, boy did they need it right now.

Indigo decided they wanted to speak to just Edric for a moment, carefully thinking only to him.

"I'll admit, I was scared, but I wasn't scared of the birds, I was scared of the new feeling they gave me, I've never felt it before, not even off someone else, it was completely new and horrible" Indigo's grip tightens a bit as they thought about it.

Edric's grip tightens right back, he must have figured out that they wanted to keep this between them, simply nodding against their shoulder slowly.

A sharp, foriegn set of emotions came barreling into Indigo's mind and made them yelp, instinctively pulling Edric away as something large landed behind them.

Luz stood up now and Amity followed suit but only Luz was brave enough to step forward to speak.

"Hi… Bat Queen" she says somewhat nervously.

Indigo had been forced to let go of Edric, he now stood with an arm out in front of both them and Amity.

The Bat Queen eyed Luz carefully and then those behind her.

"Ah, Luz ze human! Velcome back, do you come wit' news? Or just for a visit?" The Bat Queen enquiries.

"Sorry Bat Queen, I haven't found anything out just yet, I am still looking, but… we were just looking for our lost friend who just happened to come this way" Luz explains quickly.

The Bat Queen looked directly at Indigo and Indigo felt that feeling tenfold, it made them fall back onto the ground, held up by their arms as their legs gave out.

"Hmm, we recognise this one! So you have finally showed up, pity for you! For vhat you seek left veeks ago in search of you!" The Bat Queen turned to face Indigo fully.

"Wh-Whah are yeh talkin' abou'?" Indigo asks in confusion, Edric was trying to help them stand up but their legs were like jelly, he ended up supporting them with their arm around his shoulders while his arm held their waist to keep them upright. Edric had never seen Indigo so shaken up before, they were even shaking a little.

"Ve speak of the pair of Palismens zat your parents left behind for you, zat is vhy you come here, no?" Bat Queen asks.

Indigo shakes their head quickly "Ah jus' recognised dis place, whah yeh mean paren's ah don' have those"

The Bat Queen seemed confused before her face took on a look of pure sadness.

"Ve see… zat is unfortunate, you don't know zem, you don't remember zem" 

"Remembah who?" Indigo asks in confusion but the Bat Queen had already turned away, only turning back to say "Find zem, zey can show you vat you vish to know" 

Indigo doesn't speak, simply watching the Bat Queen fly back into the forest.

Luz walks over to them "Do you think she meant the two birds you keep seeing?" She asks softly.

Indigo couldn't answer Luz's question, their mind was buzzing, this area was full of that emotion and it made them feel so very ill.

"Weh need teh leave..." they murmur in the voice of someone whose about to be sick

Edric nods and looks at Luz and Amity "Let Indigo ride with you guys, I'll fly beside you, we need to meet up with Emira and Viney, I'm not sure where they went after we dived like that"

Luz gets Owlbert ready as Amity sits behind her, the two look at Indigo, who still looks ill, Amity scoots back after a moment and Edric helpd Indigo sit between the two girls.

Indigo grumbles a bit but neither girl is having any of their weak arguments as Amity holds them steady while Luz gets them in the air.

Edric transforms himself into a bat and flaps after the two, he was far slower than them, so Luz pauses mid air to wait for him 

"Ed grab onto me" Amity calls, realising just how hard it was for him to fly after them even at their slowest speed.

Bat!Ed does just that, he thought it would be easier to fly but he was very mistaken, landing on Amity's shoulder and giving her a grateful nudge with his nose. 

Once out of the general area, Indigo began to get some of their usual, still very pale, colour back. 

Puddles and the two flying on her back weren't hard to spot from far off and soon the other two members of the search party had found them.

"What happened?" Emira asks, noting the somber looks on all of them, apart from Bat!Ed who she could barely see.

"Ah think eh's best weh explain la'er" Indigo says, still having to hold Luz tightly to stay on the staff, Amity still had a good grip around them, holding Luz for support as well.

Viney led the way back to the Owl house and landed, helping Emira off of Puddles.

"Thank Viney! You were a great help!" Emira says softly, smiling at the double track student who smiles back 

"Anytime, I get the feeling you guys aren't sharing all the details with me right now but I trust in due time I'll know what's going on?" Viney asks, raising a brow.

Emira rubs the back of her neck and glances at the others.

Indigo was looking back at Viney, they nodded once in confirmation.

Viney nods back "Alright then, for now I won't ask, but if you need anymore help, let me know" she says as she jumps on Puddles back once again, pausing as Emira steps forward and asks her something, too low for the others to hear.

Viney seems momentarily stunned before smiling and nodding.

Emira steps back and heads back to the group with a small smile on her face.

Indigo knew Emira had been working up the courage to ask Viney to hang out after school for a little while now, she had finally found that courage and Indigo couldn't resist

"Good job, knew you could do it" came the soft whisper to Emira's mind.

Emira starts a bit before practically beaming at the show of support.

The twins looked at the sky and realised they were very close to being late for curfew again, apologetically running off to get home, explaining if they hurried they could get there just in time.

Luz offered to fly them back, but Edric told her she should get Indigo inside, pointing to the now asleep on their feet witch beside her, just before the three disappeared into the woods at a brisk jog.

Luz carefully guides Indigo inside and helps them to sit on the couch before fetching their favourite blanket, a nice fluffy one.

Luz noticed for the first time, Indigo's eyes were moving behind their eyelids, were they dreaming? Luz had never seen that before, but Luz knew trying to wake Indigo was a fool's errand so she simply had to let them be for now, heading to their room after letting Eda in on the day's events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh, what could they be dreaming about hmm I wonder X3


	11. Back to the Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indigo tries to find answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is very much an Indric cented chapter, the next one will feature a lot more Lumity dont you guys worey

Back to the Darkness

Indigo stood outside the Owl house… but nothing seemed right.

First off, none of those within would ever knowingly leave Indigo outside, not even Eda would do that to them.

Indigo then realises that they couldn't move, this was NOT a good feeling.

Indigo could look around, they just couldn't move anything but their head.

The sounds of wings fluttering made Indigo's head snap forward as the two Mimicidaes appeared again, sitting on a stump that seemed to just appear from nowhere.

Indigo tried to move but it was pointless.

One of the birds, the black one, opened its beak but rather than making some awful cawing sound, a voice came from it

"Be still little one, no need to fuss"

Indigo's mind froze, they knew that voice, well they didn't KNOW it but it was so very familiar.

"Ah sweetheart, I'm sure they'll calm soon, they are surely startled by the darkness, we must allow them to adjust"

Came the white ones mimicked voice 

Indigo had the same feeling towards thay voice.

"Who are they?" Indigo tries to demand strongly, but their thoughts go nowhere

"Now, now Tolken, be gentle, don't peck the baby" the black one mimics

"You two Mollus, behave yourself" adds the white one.

"They must learn to trust you both… We won't be here for much longer" the black one continues, the voice was laden with sadness.

"They will take us away from our baby, but we can at least protect them here, no matter what they need, this cave will provide it for them, so long as our magic flows through it… maybe even someday it will show them why it is shrouded in darkness" the white adds, just as sadly.

Indigo no longer tries to interrupt, that feeling in their stomach gnaws uselessly at them but they are too focused to care.

All too soon Indigo's eyes actually open and they sit up on the couch in the Owl house.

A deep rooted feeling began growing out of the horrible one in the pit of their stomach.

-Amity-

After barely making it to curfew that night, all three Blight children had called it early, but Amity had a feeling Edric wasn't necessarily sleeping, given what the Bat Queen had said and how Indigo had been acting, no doubt her sensitive older brother was worried about them.

Amity had snuck out of their room to check on him, to find him apparently sleeping soundly, but on closer inspection, found it to be a simple illusion, Amity shook her head and left the room.

In the morning Edric had not yet returned, Amity began to worry, thankfully it wasn't a school day, but their parents would get suspicious if he wasn't there for dinner.

Emira hadn't known initially until Amity told her once she was sure their parents were out of earshot.

"I think maybe he went to check on Indigo, whatever happened yesterday was really freaking them out and you and I both know that our brother is kinda…."

"Smittens" Emira asks with a half smile.

"Ugh, either way, we better go and see if he is actually there" Amity continues.

Both girls made their way down the oh so familiar path to the Owl house, Hooty greets them and dashes up to the window above to inform Luz that they were there.

Luz opens the door after a moment.

"Oh hey guys, I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say yours is missing too right?" She asks with a sigh.

Amity and Emira glance at each other for a moment before looking at Luz 

"Indigo is missing too then?" Emira asks.

"Well considering they don't actually live here, it's quite possible they just… went back to the cave, yesterday was hard on them.. maybe they wanted to go back?" Luz acknowledges.

-A long staff ride later-

The three girls landed in front of the Cave of Emotions, it still looked no different from before on the outside.

Luz walks forward and peeks through the void-like entrance, pulling her head back out after a moment.

"All the lights are still up too high to see anything, I don't think Indigo would make Edric sit in the dark" Luz says quietly.

"Well if they aren't here then where else could they both be?" Emira asks aloud.

An idea pops into Amity's mind.

"What if they went looking for those birds?" Amity asks "Maybe Indigo figured out what was up with them"

The other two looked at each other.

"That might be it" Emira says 

-Yet another long staff ride later-

"Ugh, I swear if they aren't here I'm gonna break Ed's legs for making us fly all around the island after them" Emira complains as they finally dismount the staff when they land at Hexide.

The three split up after agreeing to search different parts of the ground.

Amity took the area around the grudgby field, Emira took the stables and Luz too around the back.

-Luz-

"Now if I were Edric and Indigo… where would I look for birds? In the trees!" Luz says and indicates the large forest in front of her excitedly.

"Buuuut I should be careful not to get lost myself" Luz says "So lets start around the perimeter first!" She concludes and begins walking around the trees, Amity had said Ed was away since last night, had the two been searching all night, or had Ed just snuck out that night and done something else first, either way if Luz spotted the birds she would most likely spot the two she was looking for.

After checking the entire length of the tree's edges, Luz concluded that she would have to try going in further, stepping into the forest with a few glyphs at the ready.

A noise and voices caught Luz's attention and at first she decided to hide behind a tree, just in case.

The next thing, Indigo and Edric came into the area, their arms seemed to be stuck together with some kind of webbing, the two looked tired.

"So we're lost in the forest, stuck together and we still haven't found the birds" Edric sumerizes glumly.

Indigo sits on the ground, sighing, one arm stuck awkwardly upwards attached to Esric's, till he sits down by them.

"Emira's gonna kill me again"

"Yeh probably" Indigo says quietly into their knees where their head sat.

"Hey!"

"Well yeh did sneak off again wi'out tellin' 'er…. Again"

"I came to check on you!"

"At midnigh'"

"... Yeah maybe not my smartest idea… but I didn't see you complaining for the company when you snuck out to find the birds"

"Go' meh there, ah don' think ah'da go' away from thah huge… whah was eh called again?" Indigo asks as they looked up from their knees for a moment.

"Maulantua" Edric says and gives another testing tug at the webbing on their arms.

"Yeh thah thing, ah'd be its dinneh by naw if yeh weren' there" Indigo gives him a nudge with their entangled arms.

Esric looks pleased for a moment before sighing "But now we are stuck in every sense of the word, haven't found the birds, cant find our way out of the forest and are literally stuck to each other, how are we gonna…." Esric pauses as Luz steps out nonchalauntly from the trees behind.

"Ah… Indie…"

Indigo lifts their head and looks up at Luz, who just has her hands on her hips, staring at them

"Uh… can weh go figh thah maulantula instead?" Indigo asks and points their free thumb behind them, both get up and turn, Luz moves forward, grabbing their shirts and begins dragging them backwards out of the forest.

-Amity-

Amity almost felt sorry for the two teens as Emira verbally tore into them for a good ten minutes, asking how they could be so irresponsible, how they hadn't learned their lesson already, they were still stuck together, both their spell hands were stuck so they basically had no real means of self defense.

"Okay Em, I think they have had enough of that" Amity says, stepping between her sister and the two dejected teens.

Emira opens her mouth but shuts it again as Amity turns to Luz "Could you try a glyph on this webbing? I'm sure they'd like to get their hands freed"

Luz nods and takes out a fire glyph.

Indigo looks fine as it is applied but Edric looks worried, as Luz touches it, the webbing catches fire and sizzles away pretty quickly, revealing the two were in fact holding hands quite tightly underneath the webbing, Edric quickly lets go in an attempt to hide it but it was clearly too late as his sisters start to snicker to themselves.

"So that's why you snuck out eh?"

"No! I was helping Indie"

"Indie?" The sisters ask with eyebrows raised.

Luz looks oblivious to what they were implicating.

Edrics ears go bright red "Sh-shut up!" He says and folds his arms.

Indigo looked completely out of the loop, flexing their hand to get back the feeling in it after it being stuck in one position for a while, completely ignoring the others for the moment.

After a moment relishing in the teasing, the two sisters relent.

"So, you snuck out, went to the owl house… and?" Amity asks.

Edric looked to the side at them "Indie was already outside, so I asked what was up, they said they needed to find the birds so… we came here cuz its the last place we saw them"

"At Midnight?" Luz asks in disbelief

The two glances at each other then back at Luz 

"Well, we were both there, why not just go?" Edric asks with a shrug.

"Eh… made sense ah deh time" Indigo adds with a shrug.

"Alright, but how did you get lost?"

"Eh was dark…. Then deh maulantula showed up, weh ran, an' thahs abou' eh" Indigo says.

"And we still haven't found the birds," Edrix adds in frustration.

"So why were you looking for the birds anyways?" Emira asks "Yesterday you wouldn't get far enough away from them, now all of a sudden you want to find them?"

Indigo blinks and looks down "ah… don' know whah eh's called, when ah was sleepin' ah was… seein' stuff…"

"A dream!" Luz says "I saw your eyes moving behind your eyelids last night, people do that when they're dreaming"

Indigo blinks at Luz "okay so ah was dreamin then, ah saw the birds an' they were talkin… but Ah knew the voices…. Ah don' know wjo the' belong teh buh ah know em, they were talkin' abou' a baby, an' the cave…" 

Indigo has to stop talking, they felt something on their face, it fell from their eyes rapidly, that gut wrenching feeling was back again, it didn't feel good at all, they were forced to double over and try desperately to stop their eyes from leaking, this had happened last night as well, when Indigo had tried to explain all this to Edric, who was now holding them in a tight hug, just as he had done that night.

Several more arms joined the hug and soon Indigo was cocooned in the soft feeling of empathy and caring, the feeling in their gut disappeared pretty quickly and they were able to move their arms to try and return the hug to each of those around them, hugging Ed and Amity with one are and Luz and Em with the other.

When Indigo's eyes finally stopped leaking, Ed called ot crying, they remembered Ed doing it before as well, though he had felt better after doing it, Indigo did not feel better for it, only the hugs had brought them calm, Indigo looks at the other four with their eyes before, rather unwillingly, putting their arms down to show they were now okay.

All four gently removed themselves from the hug.

"Ah don' think Ah understan' whah's goin on" Indigo admits to them all.

"It sounded like…" Emira starts and looks to Edric, who continues, guessing Emira wasn't sure how to word it, Edric hadn't said anything despite his own thoughts the previous night, Indigo had already cried despite not understanding it fully, he didn't want to imagine their reaction when they did, but now he had others to help him support them, if there was a right time, now was certainly the time to say it.

"It sounds like those two birds were your parent's palismens, from what you told me about what they said… it sounds like someone took them away from you…. they had to leave you in the cave, probably to leave those palismens with the bat queen, since it got cut off I'm guessing that's when they were… taken" Edrix says all of this slowly in case Indigo has something to say, they say absolutely nothing, once Edric stops speaking, the whole area is silent.

Indigo makes a small sound, like what a kicked puppy would make, it nearly broke the hearts of all four standing around them.

It took everything Indigo had not to get lost in their head of swirling emotions, it was like a vortex, so easy to get pulled in and lose themselves in the anger, denial, hurt, anguish, confusion and the two new emotions adding into it from before.

A hand takes Indigo's gently, they look to see Edric's hand holding theirs tightly, just as tightly as before, but there was no hesitation in his mind.

"We're gonna find those birds" he says with confidence and glances at the others, everyone nods in agreement.

Indigo gives a small smile, more for Edric and his willingness to help them even after being stuck in a forest together with them all night.

Edric gets to his feet, still holding Indigo's hand, Indigo gets up as well, looking at the others then at the sun 

"We have time," Emira assures.

"But yah spen' all yer free day lookin' fer us" Indigo says quietly

"And we'd do it again tomorrow, now come on! We got some birds to find!" Luz says in her pumped up attitude.

Indigo feels a warmth in their chest, they reach out to ruffle Luz's hair, they know Luz enjoys it.

Luz gives a giggle at the head pats and gins when Indigo pulls back their hand.

"Well if yas 're sure" Indigo says and looks at the other two girls, who nod.

Indigo gives them another smile "Then le's find them birds" 

-After an hour of searching-

The group had split up, Luz and Amity had taken the front of the school, Emira had taken one side and Indigo and Edric had taken the other.

The whole hour was spent scouring every single outdoor crevice of the school but to no avail, as the five met back up at the front, all giving their saddened looks of failure, Indigo simply waved it off.

"Ah'm sure they'll come back, don't worry none," they said encouragingly.

The group all smiled and nodded, as they all began heading back, Edric pulled a bit on Indigo's hand to get them to follow him, Indigo sent a quick message to Emira that they'd just be a minute.

Emira glances back to see the two disappear into the trees, but they didn't go far in, just enough to be out of hearing range.

-Indigo-

Indigo lets Edric lead them just inside the forest, not far enough for them to get lost again, but just far enough so the others couldn't hear them.

Once Edric stopped, he turned to face Indigo. Indigo didn't need their powers to see the poor boy was very nervous, but their powers told them anyways.

"I… uh" Edric clears his throat "I wanted to…. Tell you something… earlier, before the… maulantula attacked us"

Indigo tilts their head, remembering.

The two had just come into a small clearing, Edric had wanted to show them an amazing little creature that lit up the night with its body, he had called it a flare-fly, Indigo had adored the sight of the swarm of little creatures flying around them, before it all ended so quickly as they scattered after flashing their bodies several times, as if in alarm. That was when the maulantula appeared.

Indigo shivered at the thought of that horrible creature.

Indigo was brought back as Edric continued slowly.

"Uh… so, I know you're still…. New to everything out here so you probably don't…. Well, I wouldn't be upset if you didn't…" Edric was fumbling with his words, but despite this, Indigo knew the boy wanted to be able to say what he was feeling rather than just taking the easy way and letting Indigo just read him.

Indigo notices Edric squeezing their hand as he tries to speak again, they squeeze back in reassurance, which makes him fumble again for another minute.

"Alright, c'mon brain just think the words and say them!" Edric mutters to himself.

Indigo watches Edric sych himself for a few more seconds before he turns and tries to meet their eye again, Indigo couldn't help the little giggle they have as Edrics ears started to wiggle, this caused Edric to start giggling back, it became pretty clear this isn't going how Esric had planned but nevertheless, he was just glad Indigo wasn't sad anymore.

"I think… I'll try again another time" Esric says softly.

"Thah's fine bah meh" Indigo says and they give another forearm bump and begin heading back to the others.

The three had waited for them, when they arrived back, Emira was looking at Edric, but he merely shrugged a shoulder and she sighed.

-Amity-

Once home well before curfew, Amity and the twins headed upstairs to talk.

"So did you try to tell them?" Emira asks curiously.

"Yeah, tried being the key word there, I couldn't get the words out right, then we just started giggling, so I figured I'd just try again another time…" Edric admits.

Amity tilts her head "Why were you giggling?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably because of this" Edric says and wiggles his ears, causing Amity to snort

"Aww you were happy wiggling?" Amity coos and makes Edric grumble and tosses a pillow at her 

"Hush, I've seen you do it when Luz hugs you" Edric retorts, Amity shrugs

"Can't deny it," she says with a blush.

Emira shakes her head at the two

"So they were cool with that?" She asks.

"Yeah, they said it was fine by them, I think I can do it better next time" Edric says with a little confidence.

Amity glances at Emirs "So you and Viney are hanging out tomorrow yeah?" 

Emira nods "Yeah, she said we can go flying again, this time she'll actually be in control of Puddles, supposedly"

All three laugh at that.

"So Amity, you thought about telling Luz?" Edric asks, no teasing in his tone, he now knew how difficult it felt to say it aloud.

Amity went bright red "No, she has a lot on her plate after grom, I don't wanna bother her with all that…"

Edric tilts his head "Why not encourage her to share some of those troubles, I know I've felt better when me and Indigo talk about stuff that bugs us, maybe she'll open up to you"

Amity thought about it carefully "I'll try that"

-Luz-

"Sooo what were you and Ed talkin about~" Luz asks sweetly, looking at Indigo across the couch, for once they had not fallen asleep yet.

"He wan'ed teh tell meh somethin' buh he go' too nervous," Indigo says with a wave of their hand.

Luz squeals "Do you think he was gonna…" Luz stops as Indigo puts a hand over their mouth 

"Ah don' know an Ah'm no' sposd teh" Indigo explains briefly.

Luz giggles and nods "Ah, okay then"

"Whah abou' you though?" Indigo asks "Anythin' yeh wanna say teh Amity?"

Luz's cheeks flush a bit "I dunno yet… I think she just sees us as good friends, I wouldn't wanna risk losing her over something like this, not after all we went through just to become friends"

Indigo could feel Luz's worry, they wished they could tell the poor girl exactly why she shouldn't worry, but it wouldn't be right to do that.

"Ah think yer overthinkin' things, ya know Ah can'noh tell yah how she feels but Ah can assure yeh at least thah she wouldn' jus' disappear on yeh, yer friendship means aloh teh her too"

Luz was smiling by the time Indigo finished speaking.

"Thanks Indigo, that helps a lot," Luz says but once she glances over, she sees Indigo's eyes starting to close.

"3, 2 and….. they're out" Luz says as Indigo slumps back against the couch.

-The next morning-

Indigo was up early that morning, Luz had guessed when she came down to find the blanket she had given them that night, neatly folded on the table and the taller teen nowhere in view.

Eda pops her head around when Luz appears

"They said they wanted to scout around for those birds again" she confirms and gpes back to what she is doing.

Luz nods, perhaps they had to be alone to encounter them properly, but Luz still felt anxious about their friend being out all alone.

-At the Blight Manor-

Edric groans as a soft sound of something hitting his window woke him up, he had slept well for once but now something wanted him awake, glancing at the clock he realised it was almost 10am, well that wasn't an unreasonable time to get up he supposed.

Edric sat up and looked at his window, before freezing, it was one of Indigo's birds, he scrambled up before realising it'd probably fly off if he approached too fast, so instead he nonchalauntly walked to the window and opened it.

Edric was expecting one of two things to happen, the bird would sit still and he could grab it, or it would fly off, what he did not expect was for it to hop into his room and sit on the window sill looking proud of itself, as if it had gotten whay it wanted, this one was the black one with the red eyes.

Edric raises a hand testingly, the bird just watches as he lifts a hand and pats its head, it coos softly for a moment before opening its wings and fluttering up onto his hand. 

"I was… not expecting this" Edric admits before looking at his door "Hmm, tell you what, little thing, stay out there, I'm gonna come outside and you can come with me, kay?" He asks and lowers his hand to the outside of the window, the little bird hops off and coos, sitting and waiting as Edric closed the window and hurried to get dressed and head out the door.

After ensuring the others were occupied, Edric heads out the door silently, scooting to the side of the house with his bedroom window at it and waves a hand, the bird coos and flaps down and lands on Edrics hand, nestling in comfortably.

Edric smiles and carries the bird as he heads for the owl house, he wondered where the white one had gone, but as he headed down the path past a familiar clearing of boulders, he saw the bird perched on one of the boulders, fluffed up and comfortable looking.

Edric glances down at the one in his hand, finding it peacefully snoozing there, smiling before slowly making his way over to the boulder to attempt to retrieve the white one.

Once Edric got to the top of the boulder where he saw the bird, it had vanished, but someone else had been climbing the boulder on the other side, there sat Indigo, puffed and struggling to get up onto the boulder, Edric quickly got to the top and pulled them up so they didn't just topple down and hurt themselves.

Indigo looks up in surprise once they are safe.

"Whah yeh doin' all de wah ou' 'ere?" They ask in confusion before noticing the little black Mimicidae in his hands.

"Yeh caugh' one?" They said in disbelief.

Edric scratches his neck "More like it just kinda hopped into my hand" he explains briefly, the little black Mimicidae sat calmly in his palm, occasionally cooing when he pet it with a finger.

"Ah been chasin' thah white one for hours, eh won' stay still" Indigo says glumly.

Edric looks around and spots the bird on another boulder 

"Want me to try?" He asks with a smile "Y'know, give you a chance to catch your breath?" 

Indigo snorts "Ya don' have tah try teh spare meh feelin's Am no' as good as yeh are wi' animals" 

Edric smiles down at them and looks at the little black bird in his hand before taking Indigo's hand palm up and gently encouraging it onto it, where it sat happily, cooing.

Indigo watches, Edric didn't know the current emotions they were feeling and his gesture was purely genuine, so all they could do was smile, ignoring the emotions in favour of the sweetness the boy before them radiated.

Edric leaves Indigo with the little bird and turns to the other one, carefully spinning a finger and focusing on going just a little away from it, vanishing and appearing within the birds line of sight, sitting already, watching its reaction to his presence, this one was more skittish it seemed, it opened one of its dark blue eyes and watched Edric's movements carefully.

Edric moves a hand down to place on the boulder, flat and still.

The white bird watches and tilts its head, it could see little biscuit crumbs on his hand, it got up, slowly, before hopping over to inspect the offering, pecking at one for a taste, finding them satisfactory, it hopped onto his hand and began eating slowly, once it was finished its offering, it plopped down onto the warm hand and snuggled in.

Edric looks over at the other boulder, where Indigo sat with the black Mimicidae, stroking it with a finger as it cooed in appreciation, once glancing down again Edric saw that the white one was gazing up at him carefully, its dark blue eyes seemed to peer into him like it could read him like a book, the next coo it gave seemed… recognisable.

Edric's eyes widened and he looked up at Indigo "Hey Indie? Can you… understand that bird's noises?" He asks uncertainty.

Indigo looks up from petting the little bird and blinks, looking down as the bird coos again in contentment.

"Ah lil' why?" They ask in confusion.

"Only a palismins owner can understand it," Edric says softly and looks back down at the white bird, who continues cooing softly at him.

"Is eh speakin teh yeh?" Indigo asks curiously, watching Edric's eyes as he listens to the bird.

"I think so, it's a little hard to understand but I think it’s trying to tell me something…" Edric says as he looks up and meets Indigo's curious gaze, feeling his ears burn and looks back to the bird, who he swore was giving him a raised eyebrow.

Indigo had stood up and hopped over to Edric’s spot to sit by him, still holding the bird delicately in their hand.

The white bird began observing Indigo as they sat by Edric, cooing at them after a while, Indigo lifts their head to look at the bird

“Yeh cheeky beggar” they murmur, Edric looks at them in confusion 

“Eh says Ah was too slow to even offer eh a snack” Indigo murmurs and continues petting the black one, it coos at the white one and Edric snorts, Indigo raises a brow as Edric lifts his head

“That one says your hands are warmer anyways” Edric says as the white one seems to scoff and flutters over to check this information, scooting the other out of its spot, it simply flaps over to Edric’s now free hand and snuggles in happily as the white one sits, almost testingly in Indigo’s hand, before letting out a coo of contentment.

The black one coos back and Indigo didn’t even need Edric to confirm its “I told you so” tone.

The two go back to silently petting their new companions for a moment before Edric looks up “So… we found the birds… how are you feeling now?”

Indigo gives a soft sigh “Am no’ sure how teh feel righ’ now, Am glad we found em though, thanks fer helpin’ meh out Ed”

Ed’s ears twitch happily as Indigo gives him that soft smile, he’s about to speak when the two birds start to move again, climbing up the two teens arms to nestle into their necks, their eyes glow a soft golden color .

"Uh, I think we just got palismens" Edric says and lets the bird hop back into his hand.

Indigo chose to remain on their neck, watching Edric.

"Ah think yer righ'" Indigo says with a smile "Buh whah does thah mean?" They enquire in confusion.

"Well normally witches carve their own palismens, along with their staffs, or at least they did until the kind of wood used got super scarce, at least that's what our history teacher said, so nowadays no one really has one anymore, I guess these guys chose to let us be their owners… but without the staffs it's just like having a little buddy around I guess" Edric explains, despite his words, it was clear that it meant more to him specifically.

Indigo just smiles and looks at their little white bird.

"Does thah mean weh gotta name em? Ah thin' they migh' have names alreadeh" Indigo asks and looks back at Edric.

"In meh dream, ah heard the voices seh two names, Tolken and Mollus ah think"

The black bird chirps at the name Tolken while the white chirps at Mollus.

"Hah, there we go then, I have Tolken and you have Mollus" Edric says happily before looking at Indigo for a moment.

"Is that feeling still bothering you around them?" He asks softly.

Indigo looks up at him "Eh's still there buh… not as bad ef thah makes sense, like, Ah know a beh more about em and why they're here, an ah can tell they migh' know somethin' abou' them people's voices in meh dream… so… maybe thah's helpin'?" 

Edric tilts his head in thought, careful not to lean to the side with his new friend so he didn't squish it.

"Hmmm, well, maybe we should think about what those people in your dream said some more, maybe we can get more clues!" 

"Yeh could beh righ'.... lemme think…" before Indigo can say anything else, the two birds flap down to sit before the two and begin repeating the dream words, word for word.

Edric looks over to Indigo as the birds speak in those new voices, Indigo initially looked surprised, but their emotion melted into an expression Edric didn't know, they just looked, almost lonely and sad at the same time, Edric moves a hand to rest on theirs and when they tear their eyes away from the bird to look at him, he's rewarded with a much calmer look of thanks.

Once the birds stopped repeating all the words again, Edric spoke up.

"They mentioned the cave, maybe we need to head back there with our palismens?" He asks.

Indigo nods their head "Thah makes sense, buh eh migh' be 'oo late en deh day for yeh teh come wi' meh, ah can go mehself so yeh don' miss yer curfew" Indigo says and stands, as if it was already decided.

Edric stands quickly "No!" He says abruptly, Indigo pauses, not totally surprised by his outburst but raising a brow anyway.

"I promised I'd help you go back, I won't go back on that for anything, not even my ridiculous parents" Edric speaks with conviction "I'm sick of them dictating all my decisions whether they're here or not, consequences be damned" 

Edric takes a deep breath after his rant and realises that Indigo was looking at the boulder below them, they seemed conflicted, that was something Edric hadn't seen before, they normally knew exactly what they wanted to do.

"Ye'll ge' in a lo' oh trouble ef yeh come wi' meh" Indigo says as they look back up

"Heh, let them try, at least it's only me that'll get into trouble" Edric says 

"They migh' stop yeh comin' ou' ah all"

"I'd like to see them try"

"Ed, yeh need teh think abou this"

"I have, I've made my decision and not even you can talk me out of it"

Edric folds his arms and gives a confident smirk.

Indigo looked down, they could feel the others' certainty in his decision and they knew there was no changing his mind now.

Indigo sighs "Alrigh' buh how weh gonna ge' there?"

"Hmmm…. We could walk, I've done it before, it's not fun but it's doable"

"Ah don' think thah's wise Ed"

Edric shrugs and continues to think.

Indigo looks up at the sky, it was nearly noon 

"Maybe weh can go back teh Owl house for a while, don' wanna risk anyone comin' across us wi' these guys, yeh say they aren' common now'days, so le's no' risk eh" Indigo says and hops off the boulder.

Edric follows after them and they begin trekking back to the Owl house.

-Luz-

"Oh my gosh! They are so cuuute!" Lux squeals as she cuddles the little birds to her chest, after getting the explanation for their two guests.

Eda had been very interested once the two Palismens were presented.sitting by Lux and examining them.

"Hmm, they are indeed cute, but they are also a powerhouse, they seem to have been made as a pair rather than just bonding over their respective owners relationship, I haven't seen that kind of Palismen in a long time, the witches who made these were powerful and confident in their pairing" Eda says as she scratches the chin of the little black one Edric claimed was called Tolken.

"Wow, so you guys are heading back to the cave huh? I could probably fly you there!" Luz says and looks to Eda for permission.

"Mmm, well I haven't said no the last few times so it'd be pretty redundant to say it now huh?" Eda asks and ruffles Luz's hair as the young girl giggles and looks at the two.

Edric looked delighted at the offer, glancing at Indigo, who nods once 

"Thank yeh Luz" they say softly.

"Plus, I have a ton more light glyphs! Oh, can we invite Amity? She always seems to happy to go" 

Indigo tilts their head "Ah don' know if she'd geh back in time for 'er curfew" 

Luz nods "Yeah, but wait what about you Ed?" 

Edric looks at Lux and grins "I'm boycotting my curfew"

"Atta boy! Stick it to those…. Parents, I was gonna say parents" Eda says quickly and raises her hands as Lux gives her a look.

Edric looks even more pleased to have Eda's support on the matter.

"But if Mittens comes looking for me, I might need you to let her know I'm okay" he adds.

"Wait… you want me to leave you guys there?!" Luz asks in surprise.

"Well, we don't know how long it'll take to figure out what's happening… if we get the answers in a decent time then it won't be an issue at all" Edric explains.

Luz looks sceptical and glances at Eda.

"Hey, you told me that the cave takes care of people right? It'll keep them safe, besides, I think a day away from those claustrophobia inducing parents of his will do him some good" Eda encourages.

Lux glances at Indigo "Are you okay with this too?" She asks in concern.

Indigo looks at Lux and decides to use her mind for a moment.

"Edric is set on helping me figure this out, I tried to convince him otherwise but he is determined, nothing we say will change his mind, but if I can figure this out quickly then we won't have to worry" they think calmly.

Lux blinks "Alright, I guess that works" 

Edric beams eagerly "Ready when you guys are!" He says excitedly.


	12. It's not a Date!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well it wasn't a date!

It's not a Date!

-The same morning-

"For the last time Amity it is not a date!" Emira scoffs as her sister giggles at her trying to pick an outfit for her day put with Viney.

Amity just grins "This is what you get for teasing me about Luz, the wicked must pay their dues"

Emira sighs "Fine but could you at least help me while you're sassing me?" 

Amity shrugs and stands to look at Emira's selection of clothing 

"It occurs to me that Mother picks a lot of what we get to wear doesn't she?" Amity asks, noting the obvious lack of choice in terms of colour and style.

Emira nods "Yeah, I don't think she'll ever let us pick our own outfits, at least not for her "matching set" she quotes with finger quotes, sighing.

"But looks at us all now!" Amity says and nudges her with an elbow "They were always trying to pit us against each other, now we're all on the same page and they are the ones in the dark, maybe we can start buying our own outfits in secret, y'know, for dates~"

"It's not a date!" Emira hisses under her breath at Amity who just grins.

-An hour later-

Emira had finally left for her "not a date" with Viney, Amity had helped her pick out a nice outfit, helped her tie up her hair, which normally would be done by her or Edric, but she was busy applying rain cream just incase boiling rain hit while they were in the air, it wasn't supposed to rain but who knew what could happen and if anyone was gonna know first, it would be the two girls flying high above the island.

Amity sits in her room wondering what she should do today, off the top of her head she remembered the conversation Ed had brought up, talking to Luz about things that were bugging her… she put a mental sticky note in her mind to bring that up when she was around Luz next.

Another idea came to mind, maybe she should go shopping for some clothes for herself, she wouldn't go crazy but just one outfit of her own choosing wouldn't go too amiss, if it did then she would just call it a gift from a friend, like Skara, who was apparently still kinda okay with Amity even after the grudgby match, in fact her old "friends" actually seemed more friendly than they used to be, apart from Bosha of course.

Amity makes her way through town, checking out the usual stalls lining the streets, she wasn't at all surprised to see Eda's stall up and running, the unusual trinkets littering the top and back of the bench.

Eda was trying to sell a crowd on something she claimed would play music (according to her human sources, aka Luz) but couldn't find the right way to do it, so she spun a spell around it and the odd circular thing started to spin, it began making sounds and a voice soon joined in, soom the crowd was roaring with applause, it seemed this song was a hit with all of them.

Amity walks around all the dancing witches and demons to watch Eda, who notices her and winks, looking down at the many copies of the same odd circle thing, tossing her one and waving her off.

Amity accepts the bribe with a smirk and pockets the funny disc thing, she wonders if it was the same song, she kinda enjoyed it. (Y'all can pick any song you think suits this scene, if you wanna know my pick you gotta ask first XP)

-Several hours of browsing later-

Amity left the last shop on the particular street she had chosen, satisfied with her picks of the day, she had even found some cool looking cloaks for the twins, they were a nice rich dark green, just a few shades off from the twins own hair colour, it even had a nice golden trim, but it was still easy to tell them apart, thanks to the two unique clasps, one had a griffon, the other had a bat, these were pins Amity had added when she found them earlier. 

Amity considered whether or not to keep the cloaks for the twins' birthdays, but decided it might be better just to give them to them now so they could hide them better than she probably could.

Glancing up at the sun, it was definitely late enough for Amity to start heading for home, she wondered how her sibling's days had gone, she really hoped Edric wasn't stuck getting attacked by another beast with Indigo again.

On the path towards the manor, Amity pauses as she hears the telltale squawk of a griffon and, as predicted, she turned to see Puddles landing behind her, with a pair of laughing teens hopping off her back

"Come on admit it, it was hilarious" Emira challenges the shorter teen.

"Oh it was funny, but it was also horrendously stupid and dangerous, if that slitherbeast figures out you put his fur in pigtails…."

"Oh pssh as if he'll know it was ME" Emira says with a grin.

"Either way I suggest you avoid the knee for a while Em" Viney replies and hops onto Puddles again "Today was fun though, you better not flake next week or Ill be mad"

"I would never!" Emira says in mock offense as Viney laughs and kicks off with Puddles as Emira hucks a well hidden snowball at her, it obviously misses as the griffon and girl fly away.

Amity stands watching the scene unfold before her with a look of pure knowing.

Emira turns, pauses but quickly brushes off her embarrassment with a grin 

"Hey Mittens, how's it going?" Emira asks casually as she strides up to her sister, looking happy as anything.

Amity keeps her look but happily replies and walks with her sister "Good, I can tell it's going good for you as well"

"Heh, it was good, Me and Viney got to see the whole leg! You would not believe how many different creatures there are to see there, I may not be as big a fan as Edric is but even I found some of them adorable, there's this little tiny thing that's like the size of your pinky finger, but its all fuzzy and i swear its always smiling, it has the cutest little eyes and they are like bright blue, the creatures not their eyes though"

Emira continues explaining about all the cutest creatures she had seen till they got to the gates, it was then the two realised they weren't sure where Edric had gone today.

Thankfully it didn't take much to get an answer as a familiar owl staff came flying their way, but alas it was Esric-less, containing a rather puffed looking Luz.

"Hey Luz, I don't suppose you had seen…"

"Edric, yes I have, he's fine for starters nothing to worry about…. He's just kinda…. Stuck?" Luz says and moves her hands like a scale, as if weighing which one was technically worse.

Both Blight girls looked pale and worried so Luz quickly continued.

"Okay so Him and Indigo went back to the cave, cux Edric had promised Indigo he would help them if they needed to go back there and now he's taking it like, reeeeally seriously, like even Indigo said he should go home but he said no and then things happened and now the cave is kinda…. Keeping them inside because boiling rain started coming in and it just… won't let them out of the cave… I was already outside so it didn't let me back inside either so I had to fly here to tell you guys" Luz stops as Amity raises a hand.

"Luz breathe" she instructs calmly, Lux takes a deep breath in and lets it out

"Hoo, okay, so yeah uh, I think I covered everything… uh, how long till you guys need to be back for curfew?"

"About three hours, even if you went back now and they were free you wouldn't be able to get them back, but if its boiling raini… it may be here within the hour, you should head back home Luz, let Eda know about the rain" Emira advises before looking at Amity as Luz nods and heads on home quickly.

"If they ask, he's tutoring one of our classmates, once the rain hits he'll have an out for being late" 

Amity nods in agreement as the two head inside.

-Half an Hour later-

The boiling rain was pelting the shield covering the house cast by the on staff shielder.

"So… you expect me to believe that Edric…. Is tutoring one of your classmates…. Alone?" Their father asks as he paces before the two with an arched eyebrow.

Emira and Amity nod once in reply.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?" The tall man demands as he turns fully to face them.

Amity felt those cold eyes bore into the top of her head as she kept her eyes focused on his shoes, if she looked up…. well lets just say she wasn't planning to.

Emira met their fathers eye "Yes, because it is the truth" she says, holding her father's eyes back onto hers so her sister didn't have to take the brunt like she usually did.

"Hmph, we will discuss this more when your brother returns, see what tale he spins, you are not permitted to speak to him when he gets home, go to your own rooms and stay there" the man speaks with authority and both girls turn to leave quickly.

Once up the stairs the two pause, if they spoke they knew their father would hear it, but they didn't need words to give each other a worried look.

Amity also passes Emira the small wrapped up package with a half smile to her, it might help her while they are stuck in the silence.

Emira seemed surprised but smiled back and they made their way to their rooms.

-1 hour before curfew-

The boiling rain had stopped for about half an hour, Amity knew their father was going to get impatient if Edric wasn't home soon, she honestly considered sneaking out as an alternative to dealing with him or even both their parents if he considered letting their mother help with this one.

Amity glances out the window, she knew if they were coming back, they wouldn't be spotted until they were ready to be spotted, but at least she could try to warn him without speaking

Surprisingly two people began walking from the forest line to the house, both with book bags, Edric and Indigo made their way towards the house nonchalauntly.

Amity stares in surprise before beginning to wave to them in the hopes of getting Edric's attention, it didn't take long for the two to take notice.

"Relax, we know the story" came Indigo's soft whisper.

Amity sighs in relief, before wondering how the two came to know it.

Once the two were on the ground and at the door, Amity heard the knock and the opening of the door, their father seemed surprised by Indigo being there, Amity didn't hear the exact words used but the tone remained calm and civil the entire time.

Amity waits as the door closes and she sees Indigo walk away, they keep looking back at the door, most likely because they feel Edric being chewed out by their father.

Amity waits as she hears the two ascend the staircase together, a sharp knock at her door tells Amity it's time to come out.

Amity opens her door and exits her room, Emira had done the same it seemed.

"It seems your tall tail was true, for now, do not test me again" their father's sharp tone left no room for argument.

All three siblings nod and their father leaves down the stairs.

Amity pulls Edric into her room

"Alright so what happened?" She asks quickly, she wasn't mad at him by any means, but she was curious about what had transpired inside the cave for the last few hours, maybe they had discovered something.

Emira was quick to add "And don't you dare leave anything out"

Edric beams at the two, he didn't intend to leave even the tiniest detail out of this story.

-Luz-

Lux waits in the forest as Indigo takes Edric home to give him his alabi and hopefully keep him out of trouble, she really isn't sure how the two managed to pull this off but she wasn't complaining, explanations could come layer, for now getting everyone home was the main objective.

Indigo steps back into view and Luz smiles

"Did he buy it?"

"Seems like it, although I could feel Edric getting anxious as I walked away, but he doesn't feel unsafe so it may have just been his father warning him or something" Indigo things to Luz as she gets on the staff behind the girl and they fly off back to the owl house.

"Soooo, did you guys find anything?" Luz asks, unable to help herself, feeling Indigo chuckle behind her.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist much longer" they think to her humorously

"I can't help it, it's like a mystery novel! There's so many layers!"

"Alright alright, I'll tell you everything when we get back"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chaptwr is a short one but trust me, the next will be longer and there will be many revalations, but oh so much drama to follow, hope yall are ready X3


	13. The Darkness Whispers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooo this is a whopper I hope yall like this one cuz it took some serious brainpower XD

The Darkness Whispers

-At the Cave-

Edric hops off the staff and bounces on his heels with excitement as the other two take their time getting off of Owlbert, the two palismens had floen beside them and each took their respective new owners shoulder to rest on.

Indigo looks at the cave entrance, their pointed ears twitch and the feeling of nervousness in their stomach makes them flex their hands, the idea of answers was both highly exciting but also extremely daunting, there was also the possibility absolutely nothing would be revealed at all.

Mollus gave Indigo's war a peck which made them flinch, apparently predicting this little bird's movements was a lot harder than it was for others, it simply seemed to be bringing them back to reality as Edric approached them, his emotions seemed worried.

"Hey, you okay? You seem anxious" he murmurs, Luz was already ahead of them, preparing her light glyphs.

"Ah'm…. Feelin' ahlo'ah things righ' naw, no' sure hoe teh…. Describe eh all" Indigo admits just as quietly

"Hey… If you don't want to go now…" Edric started, trying to give them an out, he seemed to feel like he had pressured them to come now with his earlier outburst.

"Eh's okay Ed, Ah wan' teh do this naw, deh sooner deh betteh righ'?" Indigo asks with a shrug and a half smile

"'Sides, yeh guys 're here teh help, whah coul' go wrong?"

Edric smiles and offers them a hand, they accept it and start heading for the void-like entrance.

Luz spots them and hops over to take Indigo's other hand, offering her own support as the three walk forward back into the darkness.

The two Mimicidaes immediately flutter off the two teens shoulders once inside the cave, the orbs begin lowering rapidly till they form the usual circle in the middle, it was much bigger since last time.

Luz grabs her pile of light glyphs and after saying "Bap!" Sends the papers into the air, the lights swirl and behind falling into place with the large spiral.

Indigo felt far better once the lights were in view, in the centre sat their small indigo orb, it always made them smile, it was their first spell after all.

"Where did our palismens go?" Edeic asks as he looks around, though how he hoped to spot his purely black policemen in the darkness surrounding the circle Indigo wasn't sure.

Indigo walks forwards slowly towards the circle, they began to notice it looked almost like a glyph for light in its shape, but it wasn't completed yet, they were sure it would take a lot more glyphs to get it solid enough for one to actually take advantage of the shape to use the lights as a glyph like Lux did with paper.

Luz was admiring the circle herself, grinning at the number of lights and just how much she was able to light up for them

"It should be about a quarter lit up by now" she says with excitement.

Indigo turns to Luz and ruffles her hair a bit 

"Ah would'n dough eh fer a secon' Ah appreciate how much effor' yeh been puttin' inteh this place fer meh" Indigo says and gives Luz a small one armed hug which Luz happily returns with a full one.

Once Luz released them, she seemed to put on her serious face 

"So, what are we hoping to find? Maybe some clues? Some wall paintings or murals maybe?"

Indigo tilts her head at Luz "Paintings?"

"Yeah, or like wall carvings or something, its like my glyphs but drawings of other things using paint, we have enough light to maybe shoe a wall or to if we can direct them that way somehow" Luz explains and tries to scoop a few lights in the direction she was walking in, they followed her with ease 

"Nice, it works, okay let's get as many as we can over this way" Luz says and starta gathering lights to follow her.

Indigo glances over at Edric, who was still looking for his palismen

"I'm sure they'll come back, let's try Luz's idea, maybe they're waiting for us to figure something out," Indigo says.

Edric looks over to them and nods with a half smile, but, especially in the cave, they knew he was anxious without his little friend nearby.

Indigo and Edric gathered all the lights they could together and headed towards Luz who had apparently found the wall, her emotions seemed confused.

Once Indigo approached, they sae Luz trying to sketch what looked like a glyph that had been seemingly carved into the bone of the horn, though she didn't quite have enough light to see it fully, so Indigo scooped theirs and Edric's collective lights all around the wall, this indeed lit up the glyph for Luz, it also shine light on many other glyphs dotting the surface around it.

Lux gasps in glee and begins jotting down as many as she can see 

"Oh wow, these are all glyphs! I need more light!" Luz says and heads back towards the circle of light to get more lights.

Indigo stares at the decent sized circles, some were familiar, others were new, Indigo reaches out towards a small light glyph and touches it, to their surprise, it releases a small orb of light, even as the glyph remains on the wall.

Edric had reached out for another glyph, a new one, Indigo had seen Luz jot that one down so they knew it was a new one to her as well, once Edric touches it, he recoils as aquamarine sludge pours out of the glyph and forms a small abomination which looks up at Ed expectantly.

Indigo flinches away from the thing, they were never really fond of those things. 

Esric however leans down to examine it, it had the colouring of his magic, he gave it a testing poke, it was made of the same stuff as normal abominations, it was simply a different colour.

"Uh, Abomination… rest?" The abomination fell into a puddle which evaporated away before their eyes.

"An abomination glyph…" Edric says thoughtfully and looks back at the picture of the glyph.

"This is all wild magic" he concurs softly.

"Wild magic?" Indigo asks in confusion.

"As in, a form of magic the Emporer deems "wrong" because everyone can cast it with the same ease as others, like if I joined the Illusions conven, I would only be able to do Illusion magic, but no one could stop me drawing these glyphs to create an abomination, theoretically the bigger the glyph is, the bigger the spells effect, which would make the abomination tougher, I mean it just sounds like a dumb system to me, why should we give up all our other magic for the sake of one guys word that this is somehoe better?" Edric rambles for a while as he looks at and occasionally tests some of the glyphs, ending up getting sprayed by a water glyph when he touches it.

Indigo giggles as Edric wipes the water off his face and gives a pretend glare before tapping one in front of Indigo and laughing as they simply allowed it to spray them, noy bothering to move, despite the speed, Indigo very much enjoyed water, so they weren't worried about getting splashed by it.

Luz had come back since and was jotting down notes on the glyphs as Indigo and Edric began testing them out.

It soon became evident which glyphs were which by a glance, both Edric ane Indigo avoided the obviously electric glyph as they were both soaked and didn't want to be zapped by it.

A pattern began emerging as they made their way around, it seemed as if the newly discovered earth glyphs went upwords, each one, when tapped went out the same length no matter its size or the length of time one held it down for and despite the abundance of new glyphs, there always seemed to be an earth glyph not a few paces away, as if it were making a set of stairs up the wall.

It had been almost an hour, after finding all this, Indigo was tempted to call it quits and let the two go home, but before they even got through thinking it, Luz had made a sort of staircase and was now trying to climb it, calling to the two to follow her.

Indigo realises the young witches apprentice was using the earth glyphs to go upwards.

"Luz, this cave ehs really tall, ah don' think yer gettin' teh deh top aneh time soon, lehs call eh a day maybeh?" 

"No way! I'm sure this'll lead us somewhere, it's too purposeful not to be important, c'mon!" Lux encourages and Indigo knows they just want to help them get closure, she really was too sweet.

Indigo sighs and begins scaling the haphazardly put together staircase of earth, ice and… bone? She could swear some of these stairs were made of bone.

"Luz? Did yeh learn eh bone glyph?" Indigo asks uncertainty.

"No… those were… already there" Luz calls back from above them.

Indigo pauses in her scaling and notices almost all the stairs were made of bone now, like they had been carved from the horn itself.

Indigo felt a tap at her heel and glanced back to see half of Edric's face looking up at her, the light orbs were thinning out in number and not all of them were visible.

"Luz we're runnin outta light 'ere"

"Oh! Every third step has a light glyph beside it, I've been watching the patterns!" Luz replies "I think we're almost to the top!"

Indigo shivers at the thought and presses on, tapping every third glyph to get another small indigo light, a hand grasp Indigo's arm after a moment and they let it, they knew it was Edric's, they could feel his concern growing more prominent the higher they went up.

"Indigo, if you want us to stop for now, you're allowed to say so, I don't think Luz realises how far she's already pushing you" Edric whispers honestly.

"She's noh pushing meh…." Indigo tries to smother their own feelings for now, tries to hide them, but it seemed like even in the darkness of the cave, Edric could read them as well as they could read him.

"Indie, she's just excited, but the cave isn't going anywhere, she can come back again anytime with you, she won't be mad or disappointed if all this is too much for you" Edric says calmly.

Indigo swears it's as if Edric was getting her sense of emotions with how easily he was reading them.

"How are you reading me so well?" Indigo asks through their minds, they knew their phrasing seemed odd but Edric knew exactly what they were getting at.

"Heh, you're showing emotions a whole lot more now than you were before, but not everyone sees the signs, I already know how much this stuff can worry you, Luz doesn't, so she's not looking for the signs, like how your ears pin back when you're getting worried, or how you hands start twitching like you need to climb something at any minute, I don't need to read your emotions to know your worried and really want to stop"

Indigo felt their ears twitch down, while they were contemplating this, Edric leaned around them carefully.

"Hey Luz, it's getting late outside, we should probably call it here now" Edric knew Luz was also considering his need to get back before curfew, so when she immediately calls back "Okay, you're right, let's get going!" He just smiles at Indigo as the three start heading back down the staircase.

Indigo remained silent as they descended the odd staircase, thankfully the activated glyphs had stayed out by the time they got down to them, once all three had passed though, they retracted one by one, as if the cave itself knew they weren't needed anymore.

Once all three were on the ground again, the lights began to return to their previous spots in the circle of lights illuminating the cave.

"You guys ever get the feeling this place is…. Living?" Luz asks as she glances at the older teens, making her way towards the exit with one of the light orbs in front of her.

"Well eh ehs par' oh this ti'an you mentioned befoh" Indigo says softly.

"Yeah but the titan itself is dead… right?" Luz asks and the two glance at Edric, who looks to the side a bit before shrugging, uncertain.

"I mean, we live in its bones so I'm gonna say yes?" Edric says, still sounding uncertain about it all.

Luz just hums curiously, watching the orbs move by themselves as they guided them to the exit.

Indigo looks at the last orb as it seemed to bob in place before the endless blackness, what was making it stay there, what would make it float back up to the top once they were out of range of its light, so many questions floated through their mind that they didn't even realise Luz had already walked through the entrance to the outside, though they were surprised to realise Esrix hadn't left yet, he had been watching them as they stared at the light.

"Any theories?" He asks curiously.

Indigo shakes their head slowly

"Neh idea whah is happ'nin' there" Indigo says and pokes the orb, rather than blinking out, it simply moves away from the touch, continuing to glow softly.

"Hmm, odd that it didn't vanish" Edric says and reaches for the light, it moved once again before it was touched.

"Hmph, come back here!" Edric demands and continues to try and grab the light, it flies around his hands in a comical fashion and even seems to boop his nose once or twice in the process.

Indigo just stood there, trying not to laugh out loud, just kind of snickering until Edric gave up with a huff, then they couldn't hold back when he looked at them, pouting.

Edric gives a pretend glare

"And just what are you laughing at?" He asks and advances at Indigo, who promptly looks up, grinning and darting to the side as Edric tries to grab them in a headlock, continuing to laugh.

"Yeh can' catch meh!" Indigo says and sticks their tongue out.

"Oh yeah? I'm gonna test that theory" Edric says and tries again, still missing but still amused nonetheless.

After a few more attempts Esric puts up his hands "Alright Alright I cant catch you, lets go, Luz must have been waiting outside this whole time.

Indigo nods before looking for the entrance, they always knew where it was when inside the cave, but the light made it easier to guide Edric to it.

The light orb was back in its original spot.

Indigo walks over and puts up a hand to find the void black layer of the entrance that seemed to resist them, frowning, they tried again, but the substance simply refused to allow them to pass.

Indigo felt panic flutter in their chest as they tried even harder to push at the entrance, Edric notices their panic and comes over to them, gently guiding them back a few steps and telling them to take a breath.

Indigo does so, before looking back at the entrance.

"Eh won' leh meh through" they explain briefly.

Edric nods once "Yeah I could see… but why would it stop us from leaving?" Edric moves closer "Luz walked through it just fine about 5 minutes ago"

"6 minutes have passed here so outside it has been 12…. Maybe the weather patterns changed? But if its not letting us out does that mean it's also stopping Luz from getting back in? What if she's stuck out there in boiling rain!" 

Indigo had switched to thoughts in their panicked state, too worked up to bother speaking aloud and wasting time.

"Easy Indie, Luz has the Owl Lady's staff, remember? She can always fly away if it is boiling rain or some other threat, there's no need to panic"

Something catched Indigo's eye, near the floor, something fluttered into the cave from outside.

Edric notices as well, it seemed the light was just bright enough to illuminate it for him, he reaches down and picks it up, bringing it close to the light.

"Guys, you were taking a while so i tried to come back and make sure you were okay but the cave wont let me back inside and I think I know why, there are clouds forming over the skull and they're headed this way, I'm gonna ride back and let Amity and Emira know whats going on, I'll be back as soon as the rain stops, Luz"

"She fit all that onto that tony bit of paper?" Indigo asks and moves to see it.

Luz's writing was tiny, but all the words did in fact fit onto the page.

"Huh"

"So we are stuck here till the rain stops…"

"Actually we are stuck here for twice as long as it takes the rain to stop"

"The shortest bouts of boiling rain are like an hour or two"

"We are going to be here for a while then"

Both teens look at each other in dismay for a moment before Indigo notices the lights floating down, trying to lead them somewhere else.

"... Where would it be trying to lead us now?" Edric asks uncertainty.

"I have no idea" Indigo thinks back softly, they felt Edric take their hand, he felt anxious, very anxious.

Indigo held Edric's hand tight as they began to follow the lights, they stopped at a wall, but a set of smaller lights now circled a new kind of glyph, it was large, the inside seems to consist of a large but thin oval shape going from one side to the other.

"I don't think we've seen this one before" Edric says quietly, examining it carefully.

"Definitely not… but it doesn't seem dangerous in any way" Indigo thinks back, reaching out carefully, Indigo felt Esric's grip tighten around their hand, he felt… protective, he wants to protect them, how sweet of him.

Once the glyph was touched, it glowed softly, then, below the two began glowing in a large disc shape which then began rising, both teens yelped in surprise and stumbled to get their balance, basically falling against each other, before righting themselves with the other's help.

The platform rose slowly of its own volition, Indigo looked down below the disc to see they were a considerable ways off the ground now.

"Its taking us up" Edric says as he looks up

"Up to what though?" Indigo asks in her mind, Edric didn't need Indigo's powers to see how anxious they were becoming, but he couldn't stop the platform, so he simply held their hand tightly as the only real form of support he had.

"It'll be okay, maybe we'll find our palismens!" Edric says to try and calm Indigo's anxiety.

Indigo tried to smile, but they knew Esric didn't buy it as he continued to try and make them feel better.

"C'mon Indie, whatever is up there can't be bad, right?" He asks and squeezes their hand.

Indigo sighs softly "It's not it being bad I'm worried about, it's… just all so new and…. Scary, I don't…. i know these people that are meant to be my parents, the way everyone I've ever met reacts to their parents is so different… how am I supposed to react to them?" Indigo asks pleadingly, looking at Edric in hopes of an answer.

Edric feels his ears pin to his head, he didn't exactly have the best example of parents.

"I don't know, but… it's clear they cared about you, I mean, this cave was made to protect YOU, I get the feeling they wouldn't have left unless they had to, with the way our palismens copied their words, it's clear they probably left to protect you from something, maybe they had to lure something away? I don't know for sure but… I think they were the good kind of parents so… let's just… see where all this goes, I'll be right here with you, okay?"

Indigo listens to Edric speaking with all the focus they had, they needed a distraction, his speech not only gave them one, but brought back the odd feeling from before, the not unpleasant tingling in their stomach, they were pretty sure of what it was, but they couldn't quite say anything yet, Edric was adamant about sharing his feelings with them, they would let him do that first.

When Indigo just stared and said nothing, Esrix began fidgeting under their gaze until the disc below them slowed to a halt, making them both jump and look around, apart from the disc illuminating them to each other, everything was in darkness again.

Slowly, as if pulled by a string, the light orbs began rising, one by one, melding together and forming a bridge of pure light under their feet, neither teen dared step forward, both too nervous to test the limits of this bridge, though they didn't get much choice as the disc below them began slanting upwards and basically slid them onto it.

Both landed with an audible "Oof" on the solid light bridge, both winded and relieved as they stood slowly.

"I suppose we follow this now" Edric says quietly.

Indigo pauses even as Edric takes a step forward, they meet his eye before slowly nodding and following as Edric took the lead.

The light bridge didn't have a visible end to it, it just looked like it would stretch on forever. 

Something must have been acting as a barrier, Edric unknowingly walked right into the unseeable barrier, stumbling back and gripping his head "Ow…" 

Indigo's ears pinned to their head, whatever it was had hurt Ed!

Indigo moves forward, first checking before them, before turning yo check on Edric, who looks up at them.

"I'm okay… but there's some kind of barrier there, clearly I'm not allowed through it, Mittens can make barriers like that too, if you aren't permitted through by the caster then you can't pass" Edric explains.

Indigo ignored what Edric said, well most of it, they heard him say he was okay, after that they went back to checking for whatever had hurt him, waving a hand in front of them to find the barrier, but their hand met no resistance, confused for a moment, they look back at Edric.

Edeic moves to put out a hand, once he reached just past Indigo, his hand was stopped and repulsed, he gave a small hiss of pain.

Indigo looked at the area Edric's hand couldn't pass, there was no emotion tied to whatever was stopping them, this frustrated them even more, making them hiss at thin air.

"Hey, hey, its okay, no need to get mad… it's letting you through so it must be for your eyes only right? I can…. Wait here" Six reasons and normally Indigo would accept it calmly and reasonably, but right now, Indigo didn't want to be calm and reasonable, they really needed Edrix with them, they simply couldn't muster up the courage to continue without him, so they'd be damned of they were gonna let some invisible wall stop them.

Edric realised what they were thinking before they even though a word to him.

"Indie… please don't try to pull me…." Edric didn't get the rest of his sentence out before Indigo pulled him through the barrier with their body as his shield, it had worked!

Indigo had ended up falling over in the process of pulling Edric through under them, Edric looked startled but was otherwise unharmed, his expression changed a bit.

Indigo felt their ears pin to their head, Edric was not happy with them at the moment, all they needed to see were those golden eyes narrowing under the furrowing of eyebrows, they didn't even need their powers to observe the change.

Edric said nothing at the time but Indigo knew full well he was angry at them for their impulsive decision, but for now, Edric simply took a deep breath and offered them a hand up, Indigo accepted it quickly, being pulled to their feet before their hand was dropped.

Indigo felt regret begin to eat away at their stomach, it was bad when they felt someone else's, it was even worse when it was their own, their ears stayed pressed against their head and their arms instinctively hugged their body in some futile attempt to comfort themselves.

Edeic notices the change in their demeanour and outs two and two together

"I'm not mad at you Indie" he says softly.

Indigo turns her eyes to Edric "Yeh know full well Ah can read how yer feelin'" they say quietly 

"Yes I do, and yes I am annoyed that you didn't listen to me but I'm not just gonna up and abandon you over it, I know how anxious you've been, even when Luz was still here you weren't particularly ready to do this, I kinda figured once I said about staying back that you might argue over it and come up with a plan, I wasn't expecting you to act so suddenly though so you caught me off guard and I got worried that the barrier would hurt you like it hurt me" Edric explains.

"Ah panicked….." Indigo says and hugged themselves tighter "ah wasn' really thinkin' staigheh, am sorreh ah pulled yeh through an worried yeh like thah"

Edric gives a sigh "I accept your apology, I know this situation has you on edge, c'mere" Edric opens his arms a bit and gives an "oof" as Indigo practically flings themselves into the hig

"Easy, easy" Edric says breathlessly, he has to tap their back as they hug him far too tightly.

Indigo quickly loosens their grip but their hug is still a tight one, they just aren't suffocating the poor boy anymore, allowing him to hug them back hentley for a moment before pulling out of the hug.

"Yeesh, you're stronger than you let on huh?" Edric says in amusement as they let go.

Indigo shrugs their shoulders.

"Never had to usr mah full strength before" Indigo says 

"I assure you, a hug doesn't need to be that tight" Edric says in good humour which makes Indigo giggle a bit.

The two felt better after their little banter and both turned to face forwards to see what lay ahead of them.

Along the light pathway, stood what looked like a wooden door with an odd knocker, at that distance it just looked like an odd amalgamation of shapes 

Indigo felt the tension return to their body as they looked at the door, stepping away from it slightly, walking right against Edric who had moved to stop them fleeing.

"It's okay, it's just a door, we don't have to go in but we could take a closer look" Edric reassures them softly, putting a hand on their shoulder.

Indigo looks back at Edric before looking forward at the door again, swallowing audibly and taking a deep breath, moving forwards with Edric right behind them.

Upon approaching the door, the weird knocker revealed it was in fact, two different creatures moulded into one, one side appeared to be some kind of big cat, the other appeared to be a wolfbat, which Edric identified pretty quickly as one of his favourite creatures.

Indigo was slightly distracted by Edric gushing about Wolfbats, they smiled as he went on a tangent about how soft their fluff was supposed to be but how rare they were so it was hard to know for sure, neither one realises that the door is slightly ajar before them, rather than fully closed like they had thought.

A small chirp made both teens jump out of their skin as the door got pushed a little more open by two little feathery undles tumbling out onto the light bridge.

"Tolken?"

"Mollus?"

Both birds look up and chirp incessantly at the two, who began talking back at the same time.

"What do you mean what took us so long? Were you here the whole time?"

"Hey yer the one thah flew off on meh, don go actin all high an mighey" 

The two birds flap up to their respective owners shoulder and jab their beaks towards the door.

Edric had taken a quick peek inside the door when it had opened slightly, glancing at Indigo

"It looks like a room, a well lit room" he murmurs.

Indigo looks at the door, they knew Edric wouldn't go in unless they wanted to.

It took a few moments of silence and Mollus packing their neck a few times to convince themselves to reach forward to pull the door open.

As Edric had said, there appeared to be a well lit and rather homely room before them, the room had a wooden floor with a large circular rug in the middle, a large four person couch rested against the farthest wall, it looked well worn and appeared to have larte scratches on it, as if a large cat had used it as a scratching post on multiple occasions, it was a deep chocolate brown colour. 

Behind the couch appeared to be stairs leading up to a balcony for rooms above, the left of the room housed a built in fireplace, complete with a ready lit fire crackling away, considering its purplish hue, it was easy to assume it was a magically cast fire which meant it wouldn't have burnt out no matter what length of time passed.

The walls of the room were littered in carved glyphs of different sizes and shapes, as if the inhabitants were experimenting with them.

The walls also housed the occasional picture, almost all of them featured the same two people but Indigo didn't look very closely, they felt that feeling eating away at them any time they looked at those pictures, so instead they walked forwards into the room, trying to figure out where they should go next.

Once Edric enters the room, the door behind them shuts, which makes both teens jump out of their skin, Indigo instinctively bolts at the door to try and open it, panicking when it doesn't budge, backing off to look around for any threats.

Edric quickly tries to calm them down by putting his hand on their shoulder.

"Easy, Indie, easy" he says soothingly, but he is still watching the area carefully, just in case.

Something glows and a door seems to appear on the wall opposite the fireplace, it glowed blue which screamed illusion, so neither of the illusionist teens made any move towards it, though they didn't have to, as the door opened and the two figures from the picture seemly walked into the room, the blue glow surrounding them signalled immediately that the two were illusions, but right away it was clear they weren't the same as your run of the mill illusions, they seemed completely solid, one bumped the rug out of place as they walked by it, making it crumple before smoothing it back out with their foot.

Indigo had immediately backed away behind Edric as the two figures walked forward, Edric himself felt like backing away in the presence of these very clearly powerful witches, even if they were just illusions.

Once the two stopped walking and stood before them, Esric dared to look them over.

The pair were, for a lack of a better word, confusing.

Edeic had originally thought someone couldn't be more ambiguous than Indigo in terms of gender, though it didn't seem like a huge leap away, the two seemed even more confusing to identify, both were as pale as you could be, though one sported fiercely red hair and the other was a light blue, the red haired witches hair looked more like a mane than anything else, comparable to the Owl Lady's in size and general unkemptness, whereas the blue haired witch had theirs smoothed out and tied into many different styles of braids, surprisingly their eyes didn't match their hair or each others, the red haired witch had almost yellow eyes with sharp pupils while the other had gentle brown ones.

The pair look over the two carefully in silence for several painstaking moments.

Indigo grew more and more anxious the longer this silence lasted, they kept the urge to hiss at the seemingly emotionless creatures at bay, they kene illusions didn't own their own emotions so trying to read them was pointless, but not being able to read them meant they had the upper hand and that in itself scared Indigo.

Edric had an almost defensive posture around Indigo, though if he had to guess he was no match for these witches, but he certainly wasn't just going to just thrust Indigo into this situation alone, they needed support and if hiding behind him was the support they needed right now, then he would oblige.

The two witches continued their long silence but yet seemed to watch the two expectantly, as if awaiting some form of communication from them.

Indigo was not about to speak and Esric wasn't sure it was his place to say anything.

As if they could sense the teens planned continuation of silence, the blue haired witch spoke first.

"Hello little one" they began, their voice was just like the one Mollus had copied and it sent a wave of shakiness through Indigo, it was almost like the sweetest music mixed with the most harsh of sounds, what was the phrase? Bittersweet.

"Hmm, they do not know us dear, it saddens me to confirm your fears, but we never returned to them" The red haired witch says quietly, their voice rings like a sharp bells through Indigo's ears, as they spoke their sharp serrated teeth were shown, Indigo felt their own teeth tighten together as their jaw sets in place.

"Ah, that explains their silence, though our magic lives on, perhaps our story had yet to end?" The blue haired witch observes.

"It is likely, but let us not raise false hopes" the red haired witch replies, the two moved their eyes to Edric, who tenses as their eyes combed him carefully.

"They have brought someone, a curIous selection, I believe them to be of male gender perhaps? Though one ought not assume, are though of male gender?" The blue haired witch seems to ask.

Edric just nods once, completely out of his element and not really sure how to act.

"Ah good, those eyes are distinctive, eh mus' come from a strong family, poss'bleh a high rankin' one, most likeleh in good favours weh the Emperor, though 'is min' says eh doneh wish fer this teh be so, eh doneh see the value in thah tyrants system" the red haired witch's tone has changed, it seems to relax more and more until their way of speaking fits with hoe Indigo speaks around their teeth, rather than forcing their speech to be more distinctive.

Edeic felt as if he was being read like a book once the red haired witch spoke of him, he felt like hiding all these thoughts away behind a curtain, but given that the red haired witch had probably read all his emotions by now, there wasn't much left to hide.

"Hmm, what is the nature of their relationship?" The blue haired witch asls their partner, who doesn't speak as they meet Edric's eye and give him a smile.

"They are developin' well, we shouldn' pry further than thah meh dear, they are still young'uns"

The blue haired witch blinks at their partner and returns their gaze to the two.

"I do wish we could soothe our little one, they seem so distressed, what i wouldn't give to hold them" 

The red haired witch turns their eye to Indigo who visibly flinches and ducks fully behind Edric, knowing their emotions were being read.

"Our poor lil one is noh readeh fer us yeh, theh 'ave much teh learn an' see, theh aren' readeh teh meeh' us yeh"

"Oh little one…. Are they ready to receive our gift yet?"

"... Theh accepted our pal'smens, seems onleh righ' teh give 'em nahw" 

Both witches lift an arm as if ready to cast a spell, but rather than drawing a circle, they both lift their hands up slowly, from the floor, rising from what looks like a spell circle, came a double staff, just like Eda had described, it was like two seperate staffs that had been carved to be together and yet apart at the same time, once in view, the two halves separated and floated to the two teens.

Indigo remained firmly against Esric's back, not looking at the events before them, too overwhelmed to do anything else.

Edric puts up his hands shakily to accept both the staffs floating his way one white and one black.

"You will both be welcomed back whenever you need us, ah, one more parting gift, those two large glyphs above the fireplace, memorise them, they will be very useful, you must stitch them into an important article of clothing, one you will wear often, you will see what it does when you put on your chosen article.'

Edric looks at the two glyphs the blue haired witch points to, before looking back to see the two heading for the door again.

Once the door closes and vanishes, Edric moves one of the staffs to his other hand and promptly turns to pull Indigo into a tight one armed hug, to which Indigo breaks down into.

Indigo couldn't hold all of the emotion inside any longer, letting everything out in long agonising wails, they didn't even understand why, they just simply couldn't take these feelings being kept inside them, they needed them out and this seemed to be the only way to achieve that, Edric made no attempt to stop them, he simply held them as they yelled nothing but noise into his shoulder and cried against him.

The two palismens sat on the teens shoulders had been utterly silent through this whole ordeal, Mollus now sat, observing their human balling into the other witch's shoulder, well this wouldn't do at all, they thought to themselves, chirping once at Talken whose little eyes had been on Indigo until he was roused to look their way.

"Fix this" was the clear look Tolken got from his palispartner.

Tolken pops his beak and hops a little closer to Edric's neck, chirping into Edric's ear softly.

Edric closes his eyes, listening to his palismen speak to him even as Indigo cried loudly into his shoulder.

Edric let his mind slowly calm down, focusing on that little feeling he always felt when Indigo helped him feel better, letting it radiate from his mind, he knew Indigo was still watching his mind, his own emotions may have contributed to Indigo's anxiety, so now he was only going to give them one thing to focus on, one very distinctive thing.

Indigo's breath became more even, their wails were silenced and their head fell completely against Edeic's shoulder, they were now completely asleep.

Edric gently lead Indigo to sit on the couch, with extreme difficulty, getting them to free his hand and allow him to stand and go to examine the two glyphs the blue haired witch had pointed to, the two symbols were very distinctive, one seemed to be the full picture of the cat creature on the knocker, the other held the full picture of the wolfbat, how on earth was he supposed to remember all the detail in these things? Let alone stitch them into something well enough for it to work.

An idea pops into Edric's head and he glances around, before spotting something useful, a stack of old papers, he trots over to pick one up, making sure it was nothing important, turning it to find it to be a wanted poster, specifically on the two witches they had just encountered, they were laid in a large pile in the corner of the room, on the floor, he doubted they were momentos and took another, moving towards the fireplace again.

Edric realises he doesn't have anything to draw with, looking down at the pages woefully, that is until his palismen hops forward and pecks his hand before flying down to the fire and pecking out a bit of charcoal, flapping back up to his shoulder.

"Ah, clever boy" Edeic says and pats the little proud bird on the head a few times before he bent down to pick up the now cool enough to touch piece of charcoal.

Carefully, Edric places one of the papers over the first glyph and rubs the charcoal over it, as expected, any places that dipped due to the carving, were left untouched by the black smudges of the charcoal, leaving a perfect copy of the glyph.

Edric does this a second time for the other glyph, now having two perfect copies of the glyphs they would apparently need.

Indigo stirred a bit as Edric began trying to clear his hands of the black charcoal dust, he ended up using another wanted poster, glancing over as Indigo sat up in sleepy confusion.

Edric walks over as Indigo bolts up in their confusion, they capmed a little at Edric's presence.

"It's okay, we can leave now if you want to" Edric says and offers a hand, the other holds one poster between each of his fingers to stop them smudging together.

Indigo nods quickly, wanting out of here as soon as possible, they needed some time to digest all the new things that had just come to them.

Edric gently leads Indigo to the door, which swings open on its own, allowing them both out.

Once out and back onto the bridge of light, Indigo lets out the breath they had been holding, but their tight grip on Edric's hand didn't loosen any egen as the disc of light reappeared to let them back down to the ground.

"Do you…. Want to talk about it?" Edric asks softly, once the two had started descending to the ground.

Indigo stared straight ahead, their eyes looked unfocused and unsure.

"I don't know…."

"That's… that's okay, it's just in case you want to, I'm here to listen" Edric says, gently buding their side with his, making them look over and nod once with the ghost of a smile.

"Thank you Ed… for coming with me"

Edric grins back "Of course! You've helped me a ton, it's only fair I return the favour, oh, since they gave us the staff for our palismens, we can come back whenever we like!" Edric adds as an attempt to make things more positive.

Indigo, though still very conflicted, understood the importance of this, it gave them very easy access to the cave, no longer needing to pull Luz along with them, though no doubt once she was told of all the new glyphs she would probably tag along anyways.

"Oh, I guess I'll have to teach you to fly huh? That could be fun" Edric says and this somewhat brightens Indigo's mood, finally managing a full smile at the thought.

"I dunno, I've actually ridden more than you in the last week, maybe I should teach YOU"

Edric scoffed in mock offense as Indigo chuckles.

"Oh how dare you!" He says and lets go of their hand to reach around and put them in a headlock, a gentle playful one.

Indigo didn't even bother struggling, they simply kept laughing as Edric held them like that for a few seconds before letting them go.

The platform finally reaches the ground and the two step forward, realising the lights were leading them back to the entrance again.

"How long has it been?" Edric asks quickly.

"Outside about two hours have passed by" Indigo informs him as they walk.

"If we are fast and the cave lets us out now, we could make it to the owl house, then get to my place, I'll need my bag if I'm gonna hide these and Tolken from my parents' ' Edric explains.

Indigo looks at the two pictures Edric held "What are those for?"

"These are smudgings of the two glyphs that…. Uh, were offered to us, the ones they said about stitching onto our clothes, that it would help us in some way? I'm not sure what they'll actually do though" Edric says as he pulls them up and into a hand each.

Indigo looks at the two and moves a hand to take the one with the large cat on it, Edric seemed pleased about the wolfbat before, it was only logical to let him have that one.

Before the two knew it they were at the last light orb, Edric reaches out a hand and thankfully, it slid through the inky black void with no resistance, Indigo tried as well and sighed with relief as it also allowed their hand to pass through, both stepped out into the evening air, 

"So where do we start with the flying lessons?" Indigo asks, they seemed to be sticking to their thoughts for speaking a lot lately, Edric had a hunch of why but said nothing about it yet.

"Well first we should get our palismens on the staffs, Tolken would you mind?" Edric shifts the staffs from under his arm and passes Indigo the white one, offering Tolken the black staff, Tolken hops onto it and Edric turns the little bird till it becomes a wooden carving of his little companion.

Indigo looks at the staff and then at Mollus, who just watched expectantly.

"Would you please?" Indigo thinks to the little bird, who, with great dignity, flutters to the top of the staff to be gently turned and returned to their carved state.

Indigo looks over at Edric as he lifts the staff up and taps the end to the ground, causing Tolkens eyes to glow bright yellow and its wings to open wide.

Edric looked giddy with excitement, noticing Indigo watching him and scratching the back of his neck sheepishly 

"I saw Luz and The Owl Lady do it and I wanted to try it," he admits with a half shrug.

Indigo gives a little chuckle and copies the action to active Mollus' flight wings.

Edric then briefly explained about controlling the staff in the air, showing them where to grip.

"As for take off, you just kinda hop off the ground and the staff will do the rest" Edric says, showing it in practice by gently hopping off the ground as Tolken's wings flap and allow him to hover in the air.

Indigo follows suit and soon the two are slowly flying away from the cave, both clutching their paper against their chest while the other hand steers their staff.

Indigo loved the feeling of flying, they would have loved to have tried more advanced things, but given they were heading back to try and get Edric home, they didn't want to waste more time, they were just glad Edric wanted to go back, they were worried with the boys sudden disregard for his home life and his parents tightening grip on his life in general, making it worse wouldn't exactly benefit him any.

It took serious concentration to fly their staffs one handed, but once the Owl House was in view, the two began speeding up, noticing someone eaving at them from the groun, it looked like Luz, who was beaming at them as they flew closer.

Both the teens smile as they land and Luz comes bolting over, bouncing on her feet 

"Oh my gosh! Where did you get those staffs, what are those glyphs! What happened?!"

"One thing at a time Luz, Edric needa to get home first before his curfew, can you fly us there? We took the long route to avoid town so no one saw our staffs" Indigo thinks to the excited human.

Luz quickly gets serious.

"Yeah I can fly you, i think I heard Amity and Emira say about a cover story where Ed was tutoring a classmate" she explains.

Edric nods and thinks "If we say we were at the Library, we could get away with it, but you need a bag, it'll look more convincing."

"You can borrow my book bag, I'll go get it!"

"Can you grab my bag too?" Edric calls.

"On it!"

Indigo moved to u screw Mollus from their staff, allowing them to flutter back into their shoulder and side step up to their neck, where they sat comfortably under their ear.

Edric lets Tolken go, who does a few loops around his head, landing on it and hopping around, pecking him good naturedly before hopping from his ear to his shoulder as Edric laughs and waves him off his head.

Luz came out with the two bags in hand, as well as Owlbert on his staff.

Edric and Indigo take the bags, letting Luz deliver the staffs into the owl house for safe keeping.

Once all three were ready, Luz flew the two tp the forest just outside Blight manor.

-Amity-

Once Edric finished his story, the three sat in silence for a while, digesting all these new facrs.

Emira examines the glyph Edric had taken out of his bag, glancing at Amity.

"I think I know the perfect thing to add this to" she says with a smile.

Amity grins in return.

Edric simply looked both confused and delighted.

"Really?! But I cant stitch" 

Emira and Amity chuckle between themselves as Edric looks at them helplessly.

-Luz- 

"Wow… that must have been a lot to take in…" Luz says softly.

Indigo was lying on yhe couch, literally across it, with Luz laying basically sitting on their legs as they explained everything, they seemed to find it comforting.

"Yeh, an' Ed got these glyphs, eh says we gotta stitch em teh somethin we plan teh wear aloh"

Luz looks at the latge charcoal rubning of a glyph on the table.

"Ooooh I have the petfect thing!" She says and hops up 

"Dont go anywhere! And dont fall asleep!" Luz commands as sye tuns upstairs.

"Ah don' do eh on purpose yknow!" Came the muffled reply.

Luz came bou ding back down with something purple on her hands, handing it to Indigo

"Its a cowl, it sits around your neck but it has a hood you can put up if you need to"

Indigo looks at the cowl for a moment and smiles 

"Thah should work, wanna help meh stitch the glyph on eh?" 

"Yes! What colour of thread do you want?"

"Yeh can pick eh ah don' mind"

"Lets go with red!"

"Sure"


	14. Agony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another agonizing day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope you enjpy this one, there is more plot, this chapter has bullying elements in it, if it makes you uncomfy you can skip ahead.

Agony

-Luz-

The stitching of the glyph was slow work, Indigo watched Luz as she worked, they had their own little bit of fabric to practice on, simply so they could learn to do it, they kept their stitches small and neat but getting a perfect circle was not an easy task.

Luz herself was struggling to make the circle of the glyph perfect, stitching wasn't the same as just drawing, with drawing one simply used their elbow to create a circle as opposed to their wrist like most people tried doing, stitching had too many motions for that to work.

Eda strolled in with a bag of "human junk" setting it on the ground to look at the two focused teens.

"Whatcha workin on?" She asks, glancing down at the glyph made of what looked like smeared charcoal.

Luz looks up "We need to stitch this glyph into Indigo's cowl for it to work" she explains and shows Eda her progress.

"Hmm, your stitching needs work kid, gimme that" Eda says and takes it, sitting and beginning to rapidly stitch a perfect circle into the fabric, easily getting it right first time, looking at the glyph, she took more time to slowly get each line perfect, 

Indigo and Luz just watch as Eda perfectly copies the glyph on the inside of the cowls hood, both their eyes shine at the perfection of it once Eda was finished

"Thanks Eda! I didn't know you could stitch so good!" Luz says with glee.

"Hah, I'm a master at stitching, as well as knitting and sewing, I had to be to keep my clothes good, do you know what those penny pinchers charge to repair stuff in town?! It's a rip off!" Eda hands Indigo the cowl as she rants to Luz about the repair shops reidiculous pricing for a complete repair of a dress she ripped once.

Indigo puts the cowl over their head, nothing happened right away, though as it was in the hood, they assumed the effect would happen once they put that on, moving to slide the hood over their head carefully.

The sensation of fluffiness overcame Indigo in an instant, when they withdrew their arms, they found them covered in purple fur!, their fingers also ended in sharply tipped claws which they could flex in and out, their arms appeared slightly bigger and possibly stronger than before.

The two beside Indigo had ceased talking and when Indigo looked over, both were staring at them, slack jawed, their emotions shifted from shock to confusion and in Luz's case, pure glee.

"OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE SO FLUFFY!" Luz yells and pounces at them.

Indigo knows Luz's intent and does not move as they get pulled into a tight hug, it's at this moment they realise their head has also changed, their ears were more flexible, their face was covered completely in fur and their nose and mouth appeared to have changed in texture and shape as well.

Indigo used one of their hands to pat at their head, finding their cowl had disappeared, now replaced by almost a mane of fluff around their neck.

Something else caught their attention and they looked at their back to see a tail flicking from under their shirt, that was in fact new.

Indigo pauses in their assessment as Luz begins petting them ruthlessly, though they didn't mind the affection, they were a bit puzzled by what had just happened.

"Well well well that is quite the powerful glyph!" Eda admires as she stands to have a look at Indigo 

"You are in control of yourself right?" Eda asks and waves a hand in front of Indigo.

Indigo snorts a bit and pats Luz's head in return as the girl continues to pet her, Luz giggles and starts ruffling her ears.

"Yeh ah am" Indigo notices their voice had gone more growly and low, they soon realised why as they swiped their tongue over their lips, it felt weird.

"Hah, a partial animal transformation, it must be illusion magic, but it's some potent stuff, given we can actually interact with the additions, pfft Luz come on let the poor kid focus!" Eda says and shoos Luz off as the girl plays with Indigo's new ears, making Indigo laugh as they felt particularly ticklish there.

Luz lets go and sits down.

"I wonder if it would work on me!" Luz says with wonder

"Mmm dunno kid, I don't think you'd take it off if i made you one too" Eda says "And I kinda like having a human around y'know" Eda says and ruffles Luz's hair.

Luz giggles, but she notices Eda was actually wearing a scarf, which was odd for her. 

"Are you cold Eda?"

"Huh? Oh yeah yeah, it's kinda chilly in here" 

Indigo felt a spike of anxiety come off of Eda as she wrapped the scarf tighter around her chest and neck.

"Alright you two, time for school, out, out out!" Eda says and shoos the two towards the door, putting their bags on them, completely forgetting Indigo wasn't supposed to be a half feline half witchling.

"And watch out for all the emperors cover weirdo's lying on the lawn, Lilith has been getting very frequent in her attempts to get me lately and I need to cook up some witches wool" Eda adds with her eyes closed as she closes the door on the two.

Indigo glances at Luz, Luz looks behind them at all the emperors coven guys lying around that Hooty had beaten up.

"Lets just go! I bet people will be surprised!" Luz says with glee.

Indigo flicks an ear in amusement as the two head off quickly before any of the goons awaken.

Unbeknownst to the two, a certain blue haired witch had spotted them as they ran past where Hooty had flung her.

"Hmm, a human and some kind of feline… this could be just what i needed" Lilith muses to herself with a devious smile.

Much to Luz's disappointment and pleading eyes, Indigo did not keep their disguise on, figuring out that they and only they could find the edge of the cowl hood and remove it, thus removing the spell from effecting their appearance.

Luz pouts as they head into school, before spotting Amity and the twins walking together and waving erratically, Amity blushes deeply as Luz comes bounding over to them.

"Oh my gosh you guys, we know what the glyphs do!" Luz says as Indigo walks over to join her.

All three Blights look at them with curiosity.

"Really?! What? What do they do?!" Edric asks quickly.

"Weh can shoe yeh's la'er, don' wanna draw unneedeh attention" Indigo says, meeting Edrics eyes and smiling at how bright he seemed to be today, that feeling in their stomach surfaced for a while until Indigo felt an unwelcome presence approaching them, with intent to grab onto them, moving out of the way immediately.

It was a random classmate of theirs, who looked annoyed that they avoided his grasp.

"Hey, you're the one who saved the witchlings from that coyotree" he says, trying to put on a smile, it was wickedly fake and rubbed Indigo in all the wrong ways, they could feel his contempt for their friends, it made them feel sick to their stomach and they physically recoiled when he stepped closer.

"Ah am, yeh" Indigo says in an attempt to be polite and civil, just because his emotions were foul, didn't mean they would be.

"Why not ditch these losers and come hang out with us instead?" He offers.

Indigo made a face that clearly the guy didn't like.

"What? We aren't good enough for you weirdo?" He snaps and moves at Indigo, his anger bubbling like a spark meeting gasoline, it was far too quick and too hot, there was something else fueling it.

Indigo keeps their maintained distance but they didn't get to answer as Edric steps between the two of them.

"Back off Stonic, they didn't do anything to you" Edric says, his tone was even but his emotions told a different story.

Stonic moved to push Edric, Indigo moved faster, pulling Edric out of his way to the side and making him stumble to regain his balance, turning to glare at them maliciously.

The anger Indigo felt from this boy was far too much to be from one person, something was off about this Stonic boy.

Indigo stepped forward to prevent Edric getting between them again and said flatly.

"You are angry and unreasonable, I will not be joining you or your friends, go away now before I call the Principal '' Indigo used proper pronunciation this time, their message would not be mistaken.

Stonic's anger remained, but his common sense seemed to come back a bit, walking off to rage somewhere else.

Indigo looks at Edric, his emotions had flared dangerously when the guy had gotten angry at them, even now he glared daggers into the back of this Stonic boy.

"Are you both okay?" Luz asks quickly, her Amity and Emira had stayed back, not intervening due to the suddenness of the situation.

"Am aight, yeh alrigh' Ed?" Indigo says, turning back to face Edric, whose head snaps around to face them, slightly panicked before he nods and looks away, Indigo could feel his protectiveness calming slowly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright, that guy has some serious anger issues" he explains briefly.

"Ah noticed, no one person shoul' be able teh feel thah angreh" Indigo says quietly

Luz clears her throat "On a brighter note, well not really I guess but we gotta head to class" 

Everyone starts heading for school.

It was around the third period that once again, Stonic tried to approach Indigo, who blatantly ignored him.

"Hey! I'm talking to you" Stonic says as Indigo walks right past him.

Indigo had guessed something had happened between this guy and Edric, so they chose not to pry further and simply avoid this persistent boy, but he simply did not want to allow this to happen.

Indigo found themselves cornered by a group of people right in the middle of a corridor, the lockers to their back and about 5 tall guys before them, Stonic in the middle.

Indigo would have chuckled if they didnt know how angry this boy could get, so they simply remained completely stoic.

"Alright you, I think it's time you learned who runs this school now" Stonic says "Ever since the Blights got soft, I've been in charge of this year, which means… hey!" Stonic watches as Indigo simply walks up the lockers, up the wall and along the roof to be on the other side of the group.

"Excuse me, I'm gonna be late for class, I don't have time for your monologue," Indigo says and begins to walk away.

Indigo felt the anger of Stonic skyrocket and decided now was a good time to run, something they were very good at, once they were a decent way out of view, they crawled up onto the ceiling and let the group pass by under them, baffled by the fact that people never looked up.

Indigo knew they would probably be heading towards their next classroom, Illusions to wait for them outside… they would be in trouble if they didn't attend.

Indigo sighs and heads towards a very specific room with iron bars.

-Edric and Emira-

The twin had begun getting worried when Indigo hadn't met them before Illusions, normally the other would wait for them just outside, but today they weren't there and it was almost time for class.

"Do you think Stonic cornered them? Maybe I should…" Edric began but was stopped by Emira.

"Ed we don't even know what class they were in last, you can't scour the whole school for them, maybe they're just…" Emira pauses as her eyes flicker over Edric's shoulder.

Edeic turns to see Stonic and his gang of bullies round the corner and look around with glares at all the students waiting for the teacher.

Stonic walks over to Edric

"Where's your little girlfriend Ed, got a bone to pick with her" 

Emira had to hold Edric back as he went to lunge at the guy.

"First off, they aren't a girl, they're non binary, second we aren't in a relationship, they just know a faker when they see one" Edric shoots back and makes several people "oooooh" in response.

Stonic gives a manic look but luckily for all involved the teacher happens to arrive.

"Alright students, time to start class, please enter the room" the teacher says.

Emira has to practically drag Edric away from Stonic, into the classroom.

To both the twins' surprise, Indigo was already sitting in their seat, but Edric could see their stresa from a mile away, they looked a little out of breath, like they had been running hard recently.

Edric sat by them and Emira sat on their other side.

"What did he do?" Edric whispers as the teacher starts the lesson.

Indigo knew better than to talk during class, so they quietly thought to Edric

"Don't worry, they tried to corner me but it seems they didn't know I could climb walls"

"He also thinks you are a girl and that we are a couple" Edric murmurs.

"Both of which are quite incorrect as of now"

"Yeah… wait what do you mean as of now?"

"Oh, I can choose if I want to be a specific gender, I just haven't yet" 

"Ah right…" Edric looks to the front of the class, his ears reddened, not because of the gender discussion but due to the fact that Indigo didn't seem at all worried that someone had mistook them for a couple, was that a good thing?

Indigo remained blissfully unaware of Edrics internal debate and paid attention to the teacher right up until the bell rang, they glanced at the door and raised a brow when they saw Stonic and his gang waiting outside, Stonic met their eye with a menacing scowl.

Indigo rolls their eyes, this would prove to be quite troublesome to their schedule if they kept having to interact with this person every period, so as they got up once the bell screamed, they blended in with the crowd of kids to get over to the secret doorway, once all the kids had left they quickly knocked the wall and within a minute Viney pops her head out.

"Sorreh, eh's followed meh again, can ah…?" Indigo didn't even have to finish their sentence before they were allowed inside.

"I don't like bullies, you can use the hallway whenever you need to" Viney says empathetically.

Indigo smiles, they liked Viney's mindset, they were firm but fair and their emotions were always genuine.

"Thanks Viney, Ah realleh appreciah eh" Indigo says quietly.

"Oh, but Bump announced that everyone needs to meet in the Gymnasium at fifth period, don't forget!" Viney calls as Indigo heads to their next door.

Indigo gives a thumbs up and heads to their next classroom, peeking in to find it empty and sneaking in to sit at the back desk.

For a moment there was silence, until several very negative emotions hit them like a truck, making them flinch, looking to the door, the gang was waiting outside for them again, this was going to be a long day….

Indigo groans and lets their head fall to the desk with a small thump, not knowing that the gang had heard it.

In a moment Indigo had to move as all the desks started to float around the room, hopping off their chair as it shrank, then grew and then shrunk again.

Indigo know construction magic allowed for the manipulation of real things, they were not impressed at the supposed show of force, but they knew that wasn't the intent, the intent came later as all the furniture came careening at them, they jumped out of its way and looks at the door to find the group laughing and jeering at them, they made for the door but several desks blocked their way.

Indigo felt cornered, pressed against the wall, they felt their own emotions going haywire, plus the negativity of the group, Indigo felt their resolve cumbling as they mind blanked on how to escape, they spun a finger and manifested a shield around themselves, sliding to the floor, head buried in their knees, they sent out a thought, just one thought, to those they knew would come.

"Please... help me"

It took all of a few moments.

There was a lot of yelling, many emotions occured, one was pain, others panic, others still were of rage and protectiveness.

A tap at the shield made Indigo look up to see Luz staring at her through it, her hand on the shield and a comforting smile on her face.

Indigo looked behind Luz at the door, it was open, but they saw no one else there.

Indigo drops the shield, they felt calm enough with Luz there that it was successful.

Luz gives them a quick hug

"We got your message, you okay?" She asks as she pulls back.

Indigo takes a breath and stands up

"Ah think so, jus' a lil shaken up" they reply softly.

Luz nods and leads them out, spotting the gang being reprimanded by a teacher firmly, several of them have clearly been thrown about a bit, looking disheveled.

On the other side of the corridor stood Indigo's friends, all looking absolutely livid at the group of boys, once Indigo was in view, they came running over.

The group consisted of Ed, Em, Amity, Willow, Gus, Viney, Jerbo and Barcus.

Indigo hadn't expected this many people to hear their plea but they certainly weren't complaining.

"What happened?" Amity asks quickly.

"Cornered meh in the classroom, wouln' leh meh ou' sta'ed throwin' deaks an' chairs at meh" Indigo explains quietly, they had felt helpless, stuck in that room, unable to even move freely.

Edric was currently being held back from bolting at the group by Emira, Viney and Jerbos, who were trying to talk him down.

"So what happened ou' 'ere" Indigo asks, trying to work out what actually went down.

"Well once we heard you we all came here, I don't really know how we knew to come here but… we just kinda knew" Gus says "By the way, tots understand you don't want anyone knowing about your telepathy" he adds and gives a thumbs up to Luz, who gives one back.

"Once we got here we saw those guys at the door to your classroom, we got a glimpse of what they were doing and…" Amity says before pausing as everyone looked at Edric.

"Ed knocked Stonic out" Luz continues

"Then the rest of us kinda just held everyone else back while Luz went to get you and then the teacher showed up." Willow finished the story.

Viney had looked over at Indigo once Edric was sufficiently calmed to where it only took Emira to keep him at bay

"Any injuries? I saw the shield but you never know" Viney says as she walks over.

"Nothin hit meh" Indigo says quietly.

Viney narrows her eyes as she once again looks Indigo over.

"That's a bit too specific for my liking" 

"Am fineh" Indigo assures, they weren't going to mention the horrible headache that plagued them due to the sheer amount of negativity radiating from the group of guys barraging them with furniture.

Viney blinks and walks over to talk to Edric again, this time more directly and far too quietly to be heard, the rest of the group had kind of surrounded Indigo, like a circle of protection, Indigo began focusing on the lingering positivity around these guys, it helped a lot.

After a moment Viney came back with Edric, Emira and Jerbo in tow.

"Alright, no one is hurt, the idiots are being dealt with and we all have classes to get to, except you two, the teacher said once everyone was confirmed to be alright or taken to the infirmary, that you two would need to go see Bump" Viney points between Edric and Indigo.

Edric looked resigned to his fate, nodding once.

Indigo nods as well "Yeh, okay" 

"I'll walk them there," Emira says quietly beside Viney, who nods in agreement.

"I'm trusting you to make sure they go Em" Viney adds as the group starts to move on and soon it's only the four of them.

"I assure you, they will," Emira says with a nod, she looked very serious.

With that, Ed, Em and Indigo began walking to the principal's office.

Neither Ed nor Indigo spoke a word, not to each other or Emira and the poor girl began worrying.

"Alright you two the coast is clear what is happening here?" Emira asks, indicating between the two.

Indigo felt Emira's confusion and returned their own in return.

"Whah?"

"What? What do you mean what? You two are completely ignoring each other" Emira says "It's not like you both to be so quiet, especially when you are right beside each other" Emira says as if the world is ending.

Edric looks at Emira with a glare and Indigo can feel his discomfort.

"Stop it Em, we are allowed to be quiet together you know" he says hoarsely, given his voice, Indigo assumed most of the yelling they had heard had been him.

"Oh no, I can practically feel the depressing energy right now, I may not have Indie's powers but I can tell when somethings wrong with you Ed, If you want me to leave before we get there just say the word, I know you'll go either way to defend Indie from that idiots accusations"

Edric sighs "They're gonna call Dad… he's gonna recognise Indie…. We were already on thin ice before…. He's gonna stop me seeing them" Edrics demeanour practically breaks at the last few words, he looks at his sister helplessly, not even looking towards Indigo, Indigo knew exactly why, which is why they hadn't tried to talk to him.

Emira's brave face fell away to an empathetic one "Ah, so that's why, look he can't possibly get Indie expelled for being bullied.."

"You and I both know he doesn't need a REASON" Edric says with his head down 

"Remember what Mittens told us about her little friend Willow? I know what they can do"

Emira did remember, glancing at Indigo who meets their gaze 

"They can' stop 'im seein' meh outsideh school though" 

Emira felt her heart break a bit 

"He doesn't mean see as in physically see you" Emira starts to explain before Edric snaps his head up

"Don't!"

"I won't! I won't! What I meant is, if you two were seen interacting by anyone who favours our father, even just for a minute or two, they'd tell him, you literally wouldn't be allowed near him in general, or you'd get expelled"

"Ah don' care abou' being expelled" Indigo says flatly.

"You don't even know what it means yet," Emira says.

Indigo shrugs "Noh, buh eh doesn' ma'er does eh?"

"It means you wouldn't be allowed back to school, you'd be a wild witch, the emperor's coven would start to hunt you down" 

"So?" 

"Indie you don't…"

"Ah understan' pefectleh" Indigo intercepts "buh thahs only if yer father wan's us noh teh been seen tegether righ'?"

"Yes?"

"Then yeh go' nothon teh worry bou'" Indigo says and walks around Emira to keep walking to Bumps office briskly.

Emira and Edric glance at each other in confusion before hurrying after them, trying to question them, but they arrive all too soon before Indigo says anything.

Inside sits Stonic, a patch over his eye with a healing glyph on it, behind him sat a man who was very clearly his father, across the room sat Mr Blight, who looked completely done with all this.

As the two walk in, Emira having to stay outside at Bump's request, the door shuts and Bump asks the two to take a seat.

"So, shall we start with what has occured today?" Bump asks and immediately Stonic begins in a whining tone.

"That ruffian attacked me for no good reason, what kind of witch used their fists" 

Edric glares at Stonic

"One who wouldn't waste a drop of magic bile on someone like you" 

"Be silent Edric" Mr Blight hisses at him.

Edrics head drops quickly, probably on instinct to his father being angry.

"I was waiting in my next classroom" Indigo starts, all eyes fall on them as they continue.

"The chairs and tables began floating, shrinking and growing and then flying around the room, I saw him" Indigo points to Stonic "and four of his friends casting spells outside the door, they were laughing and calling into the room, asking if I was scared yet, they stopped me from leaving the room so I put up a shield to stop them hitting me with the furniture… then called for help"

Bump looks confused "What do you mean by called for help? Surely anyone in earshot would have come regardless"

"I mean I used telepathy to contact my friends to help me" Indigo says, almost all the eyebrows in the room shot up aside from Edric's, who was looking at Indigo in shock.

"Telepathy? That's a bold claim" Bump says, but his tone isn't disbelieving, more so curious.

"She is…" Stonic starts but Edric snaps "They" before getting hissed at by his father again.

Stonic snorts "THEY are clearly lying, where would they have learned telepathy? They're compulsive liars spinning tails to get attention" 

"I can prove it easily" came a voice in everyone's head, making almost everyone jump.

Mr Blight had turned an eye to Indigo in extreme interest.

Indigo's plan was working, they had his eye on them.

"I called for help and help came, all i know after that is what others told me happened." Indigo finishes.

Bump nods his head and looks at Stonic

"And your version of events?"

"I told you, that crazy Blight punched me cuz I was talking to his gi…. Whatever they are supposed to be" Stonic says with a huff.

"I am not Edric's property, we are friends, I see his potential, he has even tutored me in Illusion magic in his free time, he is also far more genuine than you, I would not interact with someone so callus as you, you do not even respect my gender identity, why on titan would I wish to interact with you at all?" 

Mr Blight's eyes gleamed and he returned his gaze to Bump, who was looking at Stonic and his father 

"Bullying is not tolerated at Hexide, your son will be suspended for two weeks" Bump concludes "I already have the admittance from your friends as to what happened Stonic, I was hoping you would at least be honest" Bump says and waves them away.

Once the two were out of the room Bump turns to Mr Blight

"As for the physical attack, a weeks detention will suffice, though it was in another's defense, it was still a violent act and must be treated as such" 

Mr Blight simply nods his head once and they were all allowed to leave.

As the three walked out, Edric gets pulled to the side "Allow me a moment to speak to my son" 

Indigo nods "But of course Sir" 

Indigo walks around the corner where Emira was sitting, waiting.

It took a few moments for Edric to round the corner, he looked very confused.

Emira and Indigo walk over.

"What did he say?" Emira asks.

"He uh, lifted my curfew back to normal… said I should spend more time around Indigo?" Edric seemed to almost ask Emira, as if hoping she would understand what had just happened.

Emira looks at Indigo, "What did you say?"

"Ah told em abou' mah telepatheh" Indigo says simply.

"What?!" Emira says 

"Yeh, goh 'is intrest, clearleh" Indigo says simply as if thats all there was to it.

"Indigo that wasn't the smartest move" Emira says simply.

"Whah harm coul' eh do?" Indigo asks with a shrug "'Sides, eh means Ed doesn' geh locked up aneh-more" 

Ed blinks at Indigo "You shouldn't risk that for me Indie" he says quietly.

"Why noh? Yeh goh detention fer helpin' meh"

Edric shakes his head "That's not the same, detention is temporary, if word gets out then.."

"No ones gonna care thah a studen' knows telepatheh, Eda says ehs uncommon, noh unheadoh, so relax" Indigo says 

"Well either way what's done is done, for now we have to get to the gymnasium, it's almost time for that thing" Emira says and starts walking ahead of the two.

Edric keeps side glancing at Indigo, till they look back with a raised eyebrow.

"Whah is eh Ed?" 

"Nothing… nothing" Edric says and quickened his pace to walk with Emira, Indigo follows suit.

-Luz-

The gym was bustling with seated students, waiting for whatever this weird event was.

None of Luz's friends knew what this was about, so she became even more curious.

Bump comes onto the stage to speak, Luz sees Ed, Em and Indigo slip in just before he begins.

"Dear students, today we are graced with a rather important visitor, some of you will remember this esteemed guest from the Covention"

Luz heard Amity scoff a bit, remembering the covention and what had happened there, glancing at Amity, who nervously glanced away, not wanting Luz to mistake the looks she had on her face as being towards her.

Amity has not forgiven her mentor and frankly hadn't really interacted with her since the covention, the fact that Lillith had used her to cheat, not believing her strong enough to defeat a magic-less human, which honestly, she now was glad she hadn't.

Lillith appears on stage in a flourish and, out of the corner of her eye, Luz noticed Indigo flinch visibly, like they had been hit in the face, recoiling behind Edric, they had sat in the back of the bleachers so no one but Emira and Edric could see them without actually seeking them out.

Luz became very worried as she noticed Indigo was very much not okay, clinging to Edric's back while Emira tried to reassure them.

Edric was stuck in place, trying to hide the scene behind his back as the Emperor's coven leader scans the gymnasium, none of the four had absorbed what the woman had said.

Luz looks back around at Amity as the girl jabbed her in the ribs with an elbow to get her attention.

"Luz, you need to…"

Lilith's eyes fell on Luz and her smile seemed far more sinister.

"Luz the human, would you care to join me?" Lillith calls and indicates Luz.

Luz, initially froze, glancing at Amity, who grabbed her arm.

"Luz don't go down there" 

Lillith makes a motion and Luz's form glowed blue as she was levitated out of Amity's grip and down onto the stage.

"Now, the Emperor has sent me to ensure this school is following the correct guidelines, judging by your uniform, I'd say it isn't is it?" 

Luz freezes, glancing down at her multi-track uniform before looking back up at Lillith.

"Now I could happily ignore this blatant disregard for the Emperors rules, in exchange for the Owl Lady's surrender, you are her apprentice aren't you? It shouldn't surprise me" Lillith laughs.

"Now, you wouldn't want everyone here to be removed from their education now would you?" Lillith asks as the entire school watches on.

Luz felt all eyes on her and that old anxiety of the human world came crashing back into reality, all those eyes, watching, judging her reaction, waiting to see if she would mess up.

Lilliths smile seems almost venomous as she watches the teen squirm under the pressure of her peers, but her smile vanishes when a loud roar erupts and a flash of purple fur flies out from the bleachers towards them.

Lillith puts up a shield around her and the human, she needed her unharmed if she wanted to convince her sister to give in.

Something lands hard against the shield and Lillith examines their attacker, it was the feline from this morning, it stuck to the shield with sharp claws that almost pierced it, its purple fur was on end and its purple eyes stared at Lillith with a fierce glare, sharp teeth bared at them, unlike before where it seemed almost anthropomorphic, now it appeared to be fully beastial, it was most likely protecting Eda and this human child from her.

Lillith sends the beast flying by dispelling the shield with a blast of energy, the creature flips and lands in all fours, it looked quite graceful in its movements, almost as if it had known what was going to happen, this was curious.

Lillith summoned her staff and took a defensive stance, though it seemed she didn't have to, a young beast keeping girl had jumped forward and got the beast's attention, it had paused, this girl was clearly talented in her…. Well that was curious, another multi-tracking student.

"Easy now big thing, no need to fight" Viney says carefully, her and several other beast keeping students had formulated a quick plan to get the beast under control, they all knew what it was and just how feral they could be, in a room full of students, action needed to be swift.

Viney was the lead, she would distract the creature while the others attempted some soothing spells out of sight, well as out of sight as one could be.

The creature responded well to Vineys approach, thankfully no one had made any more moves nearby, everyone knew the beast keepers would be the best to approach this situation and for that Viney was grateful.

The creatures watch Viney approach, its demeanour is surprisingly very calm as Viney reaches forward to place a hand on its head, this was a very risky move and Viney heard many of the beast keepers still in the crowd suck in a breath.

The creature simply stood there and watched, Viney raised their other hand and drew a spell circle, the beast's eyes watched her, lighting up a little, as if in curiosity.

Viney narrows their eyes a little and removes their hand, that spell normally puts a calmed beast to sleep, if it hadn't worked then…

Viney looked around at the stage, Lillith had vanished and so had Luz.

Viney looks back and sees the beast hadn't moved from its spot, it just stared at her.

Viney glances at Principal Bump, who nods.

Viney carefully uses a spell, quickly jumping back as the creature is muzzled, the creature reacts to the muzzle, it paws at it for a moment, but stops and looks at Viney closely.

Viney felt their heart rate spike as it stood fully, but she couldn't panic, almost everyone had been silently evacuated while she had kept the beast's eye, so now they simply had to catch it.

Viney was stunned that a fully grown Jagawrath had made it this far without being spotted or hunted down; they were supposedly almost extinct due to their normally aggressive reaction to witches.

The Jaguwrath stayed put while Viney tried to approach again, this time it didn't allow her to touch it, stepping back, watching her closely, she had lost a bit of its trust and in beast keeping that could be dangerous.

"Its okay, I'm sorry for the muzzle but we don't want you hurting anyone" 

Viney swore she saw a look of understanding in the beast's eyes as she spoke, but its head turned to one of the beast keepers behind it who had just summoned a net, ready to send it down over the creature, freezing when it turned to him.

"Hey! Hey!" Viney says quickly and the beast turns its head back to her, allowing the other kid to release the net, but the creature jumps away, sliding the last of its body out from under the net before it could fully hit the ground.

Viney grits her teeth a bit in frustration, the beast was clearly smart, fast and immune to sleeping and soothing spells, but an idea struck her, it was smart, maybe…

Viney moves forward slowly, the creature reacts wearily, keeping a short distance from her.

"Yeah I know I'd be unsure if some people started trying to catch me too" Viney says understandingly.

"I just wanna talk to you buddy, you seem like you understand me, do you?" Viney asks softly.

The creature listens to Viney, seemingly contemplating her words, before nodding once.

Viney felt another spike of curiosity hit her, she wanted to know all about this creature, but first she had to focus.

"Alright, well, we were trying to catch you so you wouldn't hurt anyone, but you're smart enough to realise what we are doing and you havent tried to attack any of us for it, can I ask you to just leave?" Viney asks softly.

The creature blinks and nods twice, it moves towards the door, Viney looks at Bump, who casts a spell to open the door for the creature, it trots out and once out of Viney's sight, it bounds away out of the school.

-Amity-

Getting Luz off the stage had been a task and a half, let alone before Lillith had noticed, but Amity and the twins had managed to pull it off thanks to Indigo's impromptu distraction.

Luz later explained that Indigo's earlier transformation hadn't turned her into the full beast, but she had gained beastial features.

Amity was of course less worried about all that and wanted to know if Luz herself was okay.

"Luz, Lillith was trying to use you to get to Eda, we need to get you back home before she finds us!" Amity reasons, trying to pull the human along.

"But if I don't then she'll close down the school!" Luz says quickly.

"She was bluffing Luz, it'd take more than a few multi tracking students to be proper cause to put all these witchlings out of education" Emira says reasonably.

Edric hadn't said a word, he was watching the entrance of the school 

"They aren't out yet…." He says anxiously to himself.

Emira and Amity look at Edric.

"Ed they are literally a huge Jaguwrath, no ones gonna mess with them right now, not even Lillith stuck around to face them like that. That seemed to have been their plan, wish they had enlightened us a little sooner though" Emira says "Now c'mon, everyones been sent home, we need to make sure Luz gets back safely."

Edric turns and nods, though he wasn't happy about it, he knew right now at least they weren't in direct danger.

-At the Owl House-

"She WHAT?!" Eda asks, outraged when Luz explained what Lillith had said to her.

"That conniving sister of mine… I swear if i get a whiff of her again I'll give her what for, but nevermind that, where's Indigo? I know you said they went all… wild cat on Lillith but shouldn't they be back by now?"

This made Edric even more anxious and he got up, beginning to pace.

Emira gave Eda a look "Great now you"ve got him started again… just got him to relax" Emira grumbles as she gets up to try and calm her brother down.

Eda sighs in an exaggerated way "Look kid they're probably fiiiine, just sit down before I put you to sleep, your making me dizzy" 

Hooty could be heard outside dealing with yet another flood of Emperors coven goons, but it stops all to suddenly and Hooty becomes very distressed, before the door gets rammed open and in scarpers a large Jaguwrath with purple fur, muzzle and all, trying to squeeze through the doorway, most likely to avoid whatever was outside.

Eda casts a spell and the Jaguwrath is pulled inside so the door can close once again.

The Jaguwrath looks up from its spot, laying belly down on the carpet, ears down and eyes searching for each person, it gives a muffled meowl.

"Well that's either our wild cat or another one whose tame" Eda concludes as Luz and Edric hurry forwards to try and pull off the muzzle, the thing stays glued to the poor things face, magically held firm.

Luz looks at the creature's eyes "Indigo, you are still in there right?".

To answer Luz's question, the big cat moves a paw to ruffle her hair, making her giggle.

"Good, how come your telepathy isn't working?" Eda asks as she walks over with Emira and Amity not far behind.

Indigo shrugs their shoulders, finding a small demon on them who loudly proclaims

"Finally! A noble steed for the king of demons, away steed away!" King kicks his little feet at Indigos neck but they just give a rumbling laugh at his antics, slightly amused.

Luz scoops King off of Indigo despite his protests "C'mon cutie, you can conquer the isles another day" she coos and scoots him along, he giggles and runs off to find his "Army" of plushies.

Eda was examining the muzzle holding Indigo's mouth closed.

"Beast keeper magic, cant even take it off, it needs to be uncast by the one who cast it, professional level spell, could only be one kid, taught her that spell myself" Eda says.

"I'm guessing Indigo cant just remove the cowl?" Luz asks and looks at Indigo, who tries their best to paw at where the cowl should be, but they simply couldn't find it with the strap of the muzzle over their head.

"Doesn't look like it, which means we gotta ask Viney to undo the spell" Luz says with a worried look.

"Why is that so bad? Indigo doesn't have to show themselves to her, they just have to seem tame enough for her to undo it, I have an idea" Emira says with a cunning grin.

-Viney-

"Okay Emira what is so important that I had to come out here right away?" Viney sayd after landing in front of the Owl House on Puddles.

Emira stood beside a very nervous Edric who waved at Viney, looking totally guilty, which was all part of the plan.

Viney looks between the two of them "Does this have something to do with what happened during that school meeting?"

Edric shuffles his feet and nods "A little yeah" he says softly as Emira nudges him sharply "Okay yes it does"

Viney narrows her eyes sharply at Edric

"Did you let a wild Jaguwrath into the school?!" She asks sharply.

"They aren't wild!" Edric quickly defends "They just… got startled with that coven leader lady appearing so suddenly"

Vineys narrowed eyes widen a bit "So you tamed a Jaguwrath?" She asks curiously.

"I mean they were pretty tame already so I just kinda… make friends with them?" Edric says, it was not a lie.

"Buuut they do still have the muzzle on them and they really don't like it so… if you could….?" Emira motions behind the Owl house.

Viney blinks "Oh! The muzzle, I forgot to remove it!" Viney runs over "Where are they? I can take it off right away"

Edric points a thumb behind the Owl House "They're just round there" Edric says as the twins lead the way around the house to where Indigo lay, still transformed and muzzled, pawing at the thing a few times before they realised the others were there and set their paw down.

Viney pauses significantly further back than the others, who only stop to look back at her 

"Its okay Viney, they won't hurt you" Emira encourages and offers her a hand, Viney still seems uncertain, but reaches out to take the offered hand, letting Emira guide her closer, mirrorring how Emira had allowed her to guide her to new creatures on their day out to the leg.

The Jaguwrath watches Viney as she approaches it, it doesn't move anything but its ears, which twitch back and forth a few times, as if in anticipation, anticipation of freedom or of revenge, Viney couldn't predict, but since these two seemed to have its trust, Viney would have to hope it was the former.

Viney reaches a hand out to grasp the muzzle, having to let Emira's hand go to uncast the muzzle and stepping back as the Jaguwrath opens its maw wide and lets out a loud growl as it shakes its head, its eyes gleamed with relief and its moves forward to butt Viney with its head gently, 

Viney reaches a hand to pat the Jaguwraths head, stunned for a moment at just how calm it was.

"I still can't believe this," Viney says with a half laugh, letting the Jaguwrath move away unhindered by her hand.

"Yeah but… lets keep this between us okay? We all know what some demons and witches would do to get a hold of a Jaguwrath" Edrix asks.

Viney nods "Yeah… one question though… how and why did you smuggle it into school?" 

Edric freezes up, they hadn't thought of that, he glances at Emira who was also struggling to come up with an excuse.

Viney waits and glances between the two, but she doesn't have to wait long as the jaguwrath lifts a paw and flicks it at its own head, making the illusion fall.

Viney stands, mouth agape as there stood Indigo, cowl down finally, stretching out their arms.

"Sorreh 'bou' thah Viney" Indigo says "Didn' mean teh deceive yeh, bu' ah couldn' explain eh all till ah coul' talk properleh" 

Viney blinks and looks at the twins who rub their necks.

"So it was all an illusion?!" She demands.

"Nah, the actual beast is real, like ah can feel eh in meh head when am like thah, ehs jus' a loh calmer when am in control" Indigo says "Yeh did well back there, ah couln' stop eh buh you goh eh calm enough to leh meh back in control"

Viney seemed stunned for a moment at the praise.

"So it… was a threat at the time?"

"Onleh teh thah ladeh, she had all the wrong feelin's, ah only wan'ed teh disguise mehsel' buh once ah puh eh on the creature took oveh"

Viney tilts her head in confusion.

Indigo decides it would be better to show than tell and flips the cowl back into their head, but this time they get the transformation from the morning rather than the full beast.

"Ah have eh glyph on meh cowl thah lehs meh change teh this form, earlier ah goh nervous eh thah ladeh and tried teh hide… an yeh saw the results oh thah idea"

Vineys eyes lit up for a moment.

"I…. Have sooo many questions right now" she says in excitement.

"Ah promise if ah can answer em then ah will, shall weh go inside? Oh buh, don' beh mad ah these guys, theh jus' wan'ed teh help me ou'"

Viney glances at the twins and sighs

"I'm not mad, I'm guessing you thought I'd think you were crazy if you just tried to tell me without proof?" 

The twins nodded in sync.

"Well, I probably would have so good call, but let's keep the fibbing to a minimum alright?" 

"I mean technically we never lied to you" Edric chips in.

"But you didn't correct my assumptions either" Viney points out.

"Yeah… I guess not, okay we won't do THAT again" Edric concedes.

Once inside the Owl house, Viney went on a literal tangent of questioning Indigo, who could barely keep up, they answered as many questions as they had the answers for, Viney had borrowed Luz's notebook to take notes, eagerly writing anything new down for later review.

Indigo kept getting patted by everyone, they had to admit it was nice, it felt nice to them and the person petting them seemed to brighten significantly, even Amity tried once, under Luzs constant coaxing, she smiled and patted Indigos head a few times before pulling her arm back and promptly blaming Luz, who happily accepted it and returned to madly petting Indigo's mane, after asking of course, having realised it was a little rude to keep petting Indigo without their permission, but once Indigo gave the okay, all bets were off.

Eventually Indigo removed the cowl and was back to their normal self, their reason being that they had been getting too warm with all the fur.

Edric had marveled at the stitching inside the cowl, stating that his practice attempts were nothing special and Emira had been working on his.

"You got it on you? I can finish it for ya in no time" Eda offers, her scarf still snuggly wrapped around her chest.

"No, it's still in our house, but next time we come over I'll be sure to pack it, now that we know what it can do… actually maybe we just shouldn't, I dunno how I feel about letting this guy mess about as some weird bat dog"

"It's a wolfbat! A bat dog is a completely different species" Edric complains at Emira's lack of knowledge "And I would not mess around with it…" but Edric had a hard time keeping his face straight at the thought of being able to fly around even without a staff.

"Oooh a wolfbat! Dude you gotta let me see when you get it finished!" Viney says excitedly

"Duh!" Edric says "You're like the only person who's gonna appreciate how awesome they are! Em thinks they're ugly"

"I didn't say ugly! I said different!" Emira defends as Viney looks at her in horror.

"Hmmm, well either way, make sure your kids don't tell anyone else about these disguises, don't need the dummies coven comin after these two as well" Eda says.

-An hour of randomness later-

The Blight siblings soon got a text to head home, saying their goodbyes quickly and heading off.

Indigo was lying on the couch with Luz sitting on their legs again, reading the first Azura book aloud for them.

Luz was ecstatic that Indigo had shown an interest in the books and was more than happy to oblige when they asked her to read it to them, the print was far too small for them. (they also just like Luz's reading voice.)

Luz was on Chapter 2 by the time Eda came back into the room, she seemed exhausted and Luz paused as she swore she saw a feather on Eda's elbow which could only mean one thing.

"Eda!" 

It was too late, Eda was transforming.

"King!"

"Weh? Weeeeeh!"

"Get the elixir! Now!"


	15. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is much to plan and much more to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy titan this took a while, but I hope its worth the wait for you all, I really worked hard on this chapter so if yall could tell me if you like it i would love you forever.

The Plan

After Eda's transformation was reversed, Luz realises just how bad the curse had been getting, it had taken nearly 15 elixirs and indigo holding back Eda's owl form for nearly ten minutes to turn her back to normal.

Eda removes the bottle from her mouth, looking at Indigo who was in the process of letting her go, who then moved to the couch to slump over it, panting with fatigue.

"Whoa, sorry bout that kids, thanks for this" as she stands she looks down at the other 14 bottles 

"And… those, everyone alright?"

Luz nods "Yeah, Indigo kept you in one spot for us to give you the elixirs"

Eda glances back at the exhausted witch on the couch who gives a weary thumbs up before letting the arm fall back to their side, staring at the ceiling.

Luz spots something odd and reaches forward to move Eda's scarf.

"Eda! Your gem is still dark!" Luz exclaims.

"No it's not! You're crazy!" Eda says defensively, but under Luz's scrutinizing gaze, as well as King and Indigo turning to stare at her.

"Alright alright, the curse has been getting worse, I need to conserve more of my magic to keep it at bay, but it's okay, I'm managing just fine!" Eda says.

"Is that why you're making that witches wool you mentioned this morning?" Luz asks.

"Yup, it's to protect me from powerful spells, every witch worth their salt has a cape made of the stuff"

Luz looks very excited "I'm worth salt! I want cloak!" She says excitedly.

"Yes you are worth salt, don'tchu worry some time we'll get you one too, heck maybe we can add those little cat ears off of your hoodie to it too" Eda says and ruffles Luz hair, Luz gives a gigfle but when her eyes fall on Eda's gem, her face loses its light, slipping to a saddened look.

"Ah dont make that face kid, I knoe whats gonna happen, just do it" Eda says and moves her arms so Luz can jump at uer into a tght hug.

"Ugh, alright, time for you to go… i dunno, read to Indigo some more…" Eda says and lets Luz fall off her back to her spot on Indigo's legs, handing her the azura book they had been reading.

Luz watched Eda run off upstairs and glances at Indigo, who had been watxching Eda with her eyes the entire time.

"I know you can't tell me everything but… is Eda okay?" She asks anxiously.

Indigo meets Luz's eye, their hesitation makes Luz nervous until they finally speak.

"She ehs fine Luz" they say and reach out to ruffle Luz's hair "Jus' a lil stressed ou' thah curse and her sister are causin' a loh o' drama for er" they try to assure Luz, not knowing those words make Luz's mind think up a plan, they can only read that Luz isnt feeling as bad now as she starts back where they left off in the book.

-At Blight Manor-

Emira checks her stitching once more, she had finally perfected the circle, despite the Owl Ladys offer to finish it, she was determined to do this, the golden thread became more and more like the image before her, it took hours of work and a lot of redo's but evenrually the cloak now had a wolfbat glyph stitched into the hood.

Emira felt pleased with her work, checking every stitch just to be sure, she really wanted it to work, Edric was so excited about getting it and showing it to Indigo, though he was surprisingly patient as well, not bugging either of his sisters about it, the only reason she knew was how giddy he was being, always having a big smile on his face.

Their mother had had words with Edric when they had gotten home, but even that hadn't made him any less excited, though of course he kept it subdued around their parents, who, while unimpressed with Edric's brash behaviour at school, were seemingly interested in his new telepathic friend, they might be assuming Indigo had some kind of status, which obviously they didn't but none of the siblings were going to say that.

Emira quickly folds the cloak up, peeking outside of her room before sneaking into Amity's room, where Ed was sat, talking Amity though another one of her biology assignments, now that she knew of his knowledge in the field, Amity was a lot more willing to ask her brother for help when it came to that subject on general, which Edric was obviously delighted about.

The two look up as Emira walks in, smiling.

"I'm pretty sure it's finished" she whispers quietly and hands Edric the folded up cloak, moving to close the door and looking back to see him with it open staring at the glyph in awe.

"This is soo cool!" He squeaks quietly.

"Maybe we should go outside" Amity advises wisely.

"Probably yeah, but we can't leave the yard" Emira reminds them, their parents were "concerned" about the Jaguwrath report from school and had surrounded the house in a shield for safety and forbad their children to leave, hence them being called back earlier than normal.

All three siblings made their way nonchalauntly through the halls and out the front door, heading for the wooded side of the house that would face their rooms and the barely used living room.

"Alright Ed, let's see if it works" Amity says and sits on a rock, the two siblings were mostly just there for curiosity.

Edric throws the cloak over his shoulders, clipping the pin on at the front before pulling up the hood, for a moment he wasnt sure if it had even worked, till he looked at his sisters faces, both looking absolutely jaw dropped.

"It worked?" He asks hopefully.

Emira snorts as his voice comes out incredibly squeaky.

"Okay I have to admit, on you it looks adorable" she says.

Edric tilts his head to the side in confusion.

"Go look in the pond Edric" Amity suggests.

Edric walks over to the pond and glances in, the cloak had seemingly vanished, leaving behind a wolfbats head in its place, Edrics face was now more the shape of a canines, though his nose was more bat like, his ears were large, wide and very flexible.

Edrics eyes were still their normal golden colour but the iris was a lot bigger, her couldnt see any of the whites of his eyes anymore, his pupils were sharper as well.

Edric's face and neck were also very fuzzy, it looked less like fur and more like fuzz, it was incredibly soft to the touch, he glances at his arms to find them also covered in the fuzz, it was notably the same colour as his cloak, with flecks of gold here and there, apart from the area around his face, around his eyes and down his chin were a creamy white colour.

Edrics hands now resembled claws, he thankfully still had all five fingers, they all just ended in a long claw, he would have to be very carwful with those, he noted.

There were some new things about this form as well, he also had a tail, like Indigo had had in her "half" form, but Edric had something else, from his wrist to his back, stretched a thick sturdy, segmented stretch of… skin, was his best guess, it was flexible, bending with his arm easily, when he stretches out his arm it becomes clear exactly what it is, the skin spreads out into a long wing, Edric gives it a test flap, not very hard, kicking up a decent wind beneath him, he didnt even realise he was wagging his new tail in excitement till he heard his sisters giggling behind him, looking at them questioningly before he noticed it and promptly grabbed it to stop it.

"Hush!" He says but his usual voice was long gone, he seemed to have gained several octaves, his voice came out squeaky and by the looks his sisters gave he guessed they thought it was "cute"

"Do not call me…"

"Cuuuuute~" Amity and Emira coo in sync, making Edric's eyes roll.

"The books made these things look so dangerous and vicious but you just look…. Fluffy" Amity comments.

"Well duh! They fly so high that they need to be fluffy, do you realise how cold it is up there" Edric asks, not noticing his sisters approaching as he starts on a tangent about the creatures fluff, until he is tackled and ruffled about mericlessly, all three end up laughing loudly.

"Cmon! Get off me!" 

"Mmm what do you think Mittens? Should we?"

"Hmm, nah"

"Yeah nah"

"I'm gonna eat both your hairstyles!"

"Time to go!"

"Yep!"

-Several minutes of sibling bonding later-

Edric sits on the ground, puffed.

"Okay, I think it's about time I changed back" he says with a laugh, searching for and finding the hood of his cloak and breaking the illusion, back to his normal self with a good natured glare at his siblings

"You both messed up my hair" he huffs.

His sisters were just as desheviled, they all spent a few moments fixing themselves, not needing to be berated by their parents today for not looking smart enough.

"Once the shield is down we can help you give those wings a test flight" Emira offers and grins when Edric brightens immediately 

"Yes!" Emira could swear if he still had the tail it would be wagging madly.

"If it's tomorrow then I cant help I'm afraid,, our class is going on a feild trip to the Emperor's coven tomorrow, well hopefully, so long as the whole "Jaguwrath" thing blows over" Amity adds.

"Oh yeah, you've been looking forward to that trip for ages" Edric says "I wonder if Luz will be going" he adds.

"Hmm I think Indigo is meant to be going too, since our year won't be going again" Emira adds as they head back to the house.

-The next Morning-

Luz had been acting weird all morning, Indigo was getting concerned, Luz would scribble on her notepad, after a long conversation with Willow and Gus about the feild trip today, something about a hat… Luz's emotions were all over the place, she felt excited, nervous, a little worried but also felt responsible in some way, like whatever she was thinking about was something she felt she needed to do, like she owed someone for something…

"Luz, whah 're yeh plannin'?" Indigo flat out asks as she sees Luz jotting in her notebook again.

Luz's emotions immediately settled on panic as she gathered everything into her chest guiltily.

"Planning? I'm not planning! You're planning!" She says and jabs a finger at Indigo in accusation.

Indigo just stares from her to her finger till she drops it "Yeah that didn't make sense I know…"

"So wha so secre'ive?" Indigo asks again.

"I… can't tell you" Luz says quietly "But it's for a really good reason!" She adds quickly, looking at Indigo pleadingly in the hopes they would understand.

Indigo sighs "I can tell you're being honest… but please try not to do anything dangerous, I'm also going so if something goes wrong…." They think, assuming Luz was trying not bto be overhears and sticking to her telepathy.

"It won't! I promise!" Luz says "I'll be super careful!"

Indigo chuckles "Yes I know you will, but I'd rather you promised you'll stay safe over anything else" they say and pull Luz in a playful headlock to ruffle her hair, having seen Eda do it once and it makes Luz laugh.

"Noooo I just got my hair perfect!" She whines and playfully bats at Indigo who lets her go and effortlessly sweeps Luz's hair back into place.

"C'mon yeh sneakeh otter, time teh hea' off" Indigo says as they both stand up.

"Eda we're going now!" Luz calls and gets a yell back from somewhere in the house

"Good go! Don't hurry back! Give em some hell up at the dummies coven!"

"Yeah we won't be doing that" Luz says and Indigo chuckles as they grab their bags and head out.

Amity looked excired as she stood waiting by the large "bird bus" as Luz called it, Indigo could feel her excitement before the two even had her in their sights, she stood with Willow and Gus, all three discussing what they wanted to see.

"I'm sorry Willow but why do trees need to be buff?" Amity asks with a raised brow and a smirk.

Willow just smirks back "Cuz they should and that's all you need to know"

This was followed by a chorus of laughs from the other two till Luz comes running over to hug all three from behind.

"Hug time!"

"Gah!"

"Luz!"

"Ahh!"

Indigo laughs as the four end up toppling over and laughing in a pile.

"Luz, buddy, you gotta warn us before hug time" Gus says as he gets pulled to his feet by the human as Indigo helps Willow and Amity to their feet.

"But it's no fuuuun!" Luz retorts and waves her hands around "You guys always run away!"

Indigo noticed Amity was quite red with both embarrasment and another thing only they could sense, although Willow was looking at her with understanding, perhaps the little plant witch knew as well.

To save the poor witch from more embarrassment, ie Luz noticing her getting all frazzled, Indigo politely steps between Amity and Luz's line of sight, allowing the girl some much needed time to just calm down.

Bump was giving his second to last call to get on the bird bus, so the group made their way to it, they all sat at the back together, chatting quietly amongst themselves as the bus took off.

Indigo watches over the side of the bus, watching the landscape go by below them, taking in all the new sights eagerly.

Luz also sat at the edge, pointing out anything cool, both would ask either Willow or Amity if neither of them knew something.

"Oh, that's a Jackel's ladder!" Willow says and points to a very tall plant off in the distance.

"How can you tell?" Luz asks squinting at it

"Cuz nothing else on the isles can grow so tall and still be standing!" Willow says.

"Those are the ones that thrive off of magic used around them right?" Amity asks as she moves to have a look.

"Yup, you remember your Vine Vault Luz? It actually resembles those kinds of plants up close"

"Wow!" Luz says exciredly "I wanna climb it" she says eagerly.

"Phaha, it'd take you weeks to climb that thing" Amity comments, but has to look away blushing when Luz just grins at her.

"I bet you I could climb it in a day!" She says and puffs out her chest, jabbing a thumb at herself smugly.

"I think you would die if you tried that" Willow adds.

"Yup" Indigo agrees.

"Most definately" Gus pipes up.

Luz looks at them in shock.

"Betrayal!" She says dramatically and clutches her heart, pretending to sink to the ground while the girls and Gus laugh at her antics.

Amity went to sit back in her seat, noticing Luz' notebook on the seat, she had only glances at it for a second to admire the cool looking hat picture Luz had drawn until see saw the word steal and her eyes widened a bit, keeping quiet for now but growing concern in her gut, which she knew for a fact Indigo had picked up on when their head whipped around to check on Amity, who glanced down at the paper again and back at Indigo, who gained a look of understanding and nodded once.

Amity wasn't sure still so Indigo decided to speak to her privately.

"I dont know what she has planned, but she promised to keep herself safe, she has a good reason for whatever it is shes doing, I trust her, if need be I'll protect her" Amity listens and once Indigo stops, she nods once, getting a determined look on her face.

The rest of the flight was spent either sitting watching the view, or watching Indigo and Gus engaging in an "Illusionists battle"

"It's quite simply, two Illusionists create small illusions and have them battle to the death!" Gus says dramatically.

Everyone watches him pose dramatically till he continues unhindered.

"You see, two illusions would find it very hard to poof each other, so the illusionists have to provide them with tools or a terrain advantage to ensure their champions victory, the champion can be whatever the illusionist likes, but mostly I just stick to a generic clone of myself, but tiny!" Gus explains and twirls a finger, making a tiny him which stands proudly on his hand as he sits on the floor and sets it on the ground.

Indigo looks intrigued and sits opposite him, thinking about it and making a tiny clone of themselves as well, making it the same size as Gus' for fairness sake.

"Alright, we each get to pick a generic weapon for our champion, we have to do it at the same time to avoid someone getting an advantage over the other" Gus says and lifts a finger, waiting for indigo to raise theirs as a signal they were ready, Indigo gives it a bit of thought and raises their, the two twirl fingers and their champions poof a bit, Gus' champion holds a sword while Indigo's appeared to have claws strapped to their hands made of metal.

"Oooh that's unique! What are those?" Gus asks excitedly.

"Am no' sure, Luz talked abou' em in 'er Azureh book" Indigo says.

"Ooooooh Sabre claws!" Luz says in delight.

"Yeh, those" Indigo says as her champion flexes the weapon and gets into a stance.

"Alright, first one to poof their opponwnt wins, everything goes, except hurting the other competitors real body, that's the only "no no" in this game" Gus explains before he twirls a finger and a number appears, counting down to 1 before the two tiny figures charge at each other.

Gus and Indigo began spinning their fingers, taking control of their mini champions as they fought, both their eyes closed, faces looking deep in concentration as the tiny figures clashed in a tiny, but epic way, Gus' champion had good balance, combating the claws of his opponent well, backing off when it got too much to get a handle on the situation.

Indigo's champion stayed on the defensive, only attack atyer being attacked, letting the other back off, but never not moving, they moved from side to side in a half circle, watching Gus' champion carefully.

Gus once again sent his champion charging forward to swing at Indigo's wildly, Indigo's champion jumped back, onto Indigo's leg, giving a challenging crook of their finger as Gus' champion hesitates to follow, Gus knew he was disadvantaged going anywhere near Indigo, it would break the one rule if he hurt them, so instead he created a floating platform for his champion, letting him get close without touching the other competitor.

The battle grew more fierce, Indigo's champion took control pretty quickly after getting onto Gus' platform with a well timed jump, there wasn't enough space for them both on the small platform and Gus didnt get a chance to make it bigger, Indigo wasn't giving him the time to think, his champion parried blow after blow until one well times hit landed, sending his champion into a cloud of smoke, along with the platform.

Indigo's hand caught their tiny champion as it took a bow while the tiny crowd of kids that had gathered to watch them cheered.

Gus and Indigo opened their eyes and dispersed any illusions left, standing to bow to one another before laughing giddily

"Thah was fun!"

"Heck yeah! It's much more fun with someone else to play with!" Gus says excitedly.

"Waih, dis is the firs' time yeh goh teh play wi'h someone?" Indigo asks.

"Yeah… the other illusionists are all older than me in my class, I dont really talk to any of them so… there's really no one else I can play with, they'd probably see it as childish and ignore me" Gus says with a shrug.

Indigo snorts and looks at the crowd.

"Any eh yeh lo' think thahs childish?" They asks and the crowd gives a resounding "Now way!"

"That was so cool! I wish I knew illusions!"

"We should have tournaments! Like make an event out of it!"

"Yeah! That'd be so cool to see on a larger scale!"

Gus looks surprised but beams as everyone gather around to talk to him about his game.

Indigo glances back at the others with a grin, seeing them all grinning back with looks of approval.

"I know for a fact my brother and sister would help create a tournament for battling with Illusions, seems right up their alley" Amity says offhandedly.

Luz gets a starry eyed look.

"Oh my gosh! You guys could be a trio…" Indigo clears her throat.

"Oh ah… oh a quartet of Illusion battlers!" Luz corrects eagerly.

"Pfft, sounds like fun" Willow says between giggles as Indigo looks pleased by the idea.

None of them realised that Bump had been listening in, seeming interested as he stroked his chin.

-At the Coven Castle-

The bird bus lands and Principal Bump warns everyone to be on their best behaviour.

The group gathers, Luz smartly puts up her hood, Gus had cast a temporary illusion on her so no one would be able to recognise her at first glance.

Indigo, having felt the immediate effects of this castle's collective emotions, looked visibly pale, somehow paler than usual, their eyes seemed to gloss over and they clung to Luz's shoulder, they seemed to need physical support just to walk.

Luz immediately grew concerned "Indigo are you okay?" She asks and holda Indigo up.

"Yeh jus….. somethin's noh righ' 'ere, ah don' thin' ah can go in" they say and stumble back against the bird bus, noting Willow and Amity also at their sides.

"Sir! Uh, Indigo is feeling flight sickness, I think they need to stay behind" Amity calls, making up an excuse on the spot.

Principal bump looks back disgruntled, but upon seeing Indigo's current condition, his gaze softens "Ah, it would be hard to fake such symptoms" he mutters to himself and walks over.

"You are correct Miss Blight, but I would need someone to stay with her for the duration of the field trip" he says, Amity, Willow and Luz all look at each other.

"Am aigh' alone sir, jus… need a lil time" Indigo assures and waves a hand "No need fer anyehone teh miss de trip" they say and push themselves back onto the bird bus, sitting on one of the seats.

Bump looks uncertain for several minutes, he knew all the maturest students were eager to go on this trip, it would be unfair to make them miss it, plus young Indigo seemed capable of behaving themselves.

"Alright, but contact someone immediately if you need assistance" Bump instructs Indigo who gives a weary thumbs up.

"Will deh sir" they reply a little weakly.

Luz looks back at Indigo in worry as Bump calls the others together to start the trip, Amity, Willow and Gus share her worry, though Willow and Gus had less of an idea of what was really happening to the poor Empath.

Once inside, their tour guide,Ki-Ki Mora, began explaining the history of the isles and the Emperor's coven to the kids, Amity was listening dilligently while everyone else continued to look around in awe, Luz of course took more notice of a vent, trying to pry it open, much to Willow and Gus' confusion.

The group went through the artifact room and Luz was once again blocked by Gus and Willow making her continue before her work was done.

Luz hides as Lillith comes in through a door, forgetting Gus' spell was still active, thankfully she wasnt even glanced at, Lillith made a snide remark after the children wished her luck.

Luz sneaks away from the group effortlessly somwhow, following Lillith off somewhere into the castle.

-At the bird bus-

Indigo was sloely adjusting to this areas horrible feelings, pushing them aside sloely in favour of the tiny resovoir of possitivity which was the field trip kids, clinging to their awe and excitement like the thing Luz called a life preserver, some kind of red and white ring she said would float on water, apparently Eda had found one once.

Indigo glances around the bus, they figured a distraction would help them calm down this queezy feeling, glancing at Luz' notebook and picking it up, Luz never minded her using it to practice drawing glyphs with.

Indigo opens the book and notices a dog eared page, turning to it curiously, the moment their eyes scanned over the page, the sickness became real, their stomach tightened in worry and they dropped the book, breathing hard as they tried to push away all the bad stuff to get moving, they had to get to Luz now!

Luz… meanwhile had met up with Willow, Gus and suprisingly Amity, who had snuck off the moment she had disappeared, Amity explained what she had seen in the notebook and they had all gone looking for her.

"Luz, I saw your notebook, what exactly are you planning on stealing?" Amity asks, once they established that they weren't just going to drag her back.

"The healing covens hat, if I can get it I might be able to heal Eda's curse!" Luz explains briefly.

The three witches look amongst each other for a moment.

Amity sighs "Now I get why Indigo was letting you do this, they said you had a good reason for it"

"Wait Indigo knows?!" Luz asks quickly.

"Well they knew something was happening, I don't think they know your planning to steal the hat, although… where did yoy leave your notebook?"

"On the…. Bird bus…"

"Where Indigo currently is" Gus says and points out the window.

Luz glances out to see the vague shape of Indigo, laying on the back seat, Luz feels guilt eat at her stomach for a moment.

"They really dont look good, I hope they didn't read it and get more worried" she says.

"Either way we cant stick around here, whats the plan here? We cant just walk in and take the hat" Amity says as Luz turns, who just glances to the side and back at her.

"Uh, that waaaas the plan" 

"Oh my titan Luz" Amity pinches the bridge of her nose "I can't begin to describe how bad of a plan that is" 

"Oh good cuz I'm literally gonna go do it" Luz says and teots around her with Willow and Gus in tow, making Amity squeak and run to join them "Wait up!"

After much shenanigans that should not have worked as well as it did (in Amity's opinion) the four ended up in the artifacts room once again.

Indigo had made an Illusion of themselves, making it lay on the back seat facing towards the seat so others would think they were asleep, the front had been left somehow unguarded and all they had to do to avoid the guards was crawl (literally crawl due to their condition) up to the ceiling, they would never understand why no one ever looked up when guarding somewhere.

The kids had examined a few of the artifacts, Gus had talked to his illusion self from the oracle sphere, ending up crying happy tears when it told him he was his best self.

Willow had tried out the green thumb gauntlet with a cute giggle afterwards.

Amity looks at all the artifacts, they all held a curious past, she sees Luz picking up the healing hat, not long after the other three giggle about something, a voice whispers in their mind, but its not friendly or kind like Indigo's, it's horrible and clearly menacing.

"I will know" was all the voice had to say.

"Guys we need to leave NOW!" Luz says but before the words have even left her mouth the metal doors on either side of the room slam shut on them.

Amity joins the group as Willow reaches for the green thumb gauntlet once again 

"I got this guys!" Willow says with confidence, slamming her hand down to summon a large (buff) tree which shoots its huge arms at the door, sending a resounding boom through the castle.

This attracts the attention of both friend and foe.

All the kids immediately cough as dust coats the room from the impact, 

When Amity looks up, her ears drop as she recognises the silluette of her mentor, staring down at the four from the doorway.

"Well well well, not exactly who I expected… but I can work with this" Lillith says and walks into the room slowly, summoning her staff.

Naturally all the kids were weary of the coven head, she had very publicly threatened to close down their school if Eda didnt turn herself in.

Lillith reaches forward to take the hat from Luz, but Amity steps between them, raising a protective arm to cover Luz.

"Amity? What in the world are yoy doing? Get out of my way!" Lillith demands and Amity almost complies out of sheer force of habit to do as she's told by those above her, almost.

"No!" Amity bites back "You leave Luz alone!"

"Oh please, I'm not a monster, I'm not going to hurt her, she's far more valuable to me unharmed" Lillith says as if that much is obvious.

"Ugh, you sound like my parents, valuable? Really? She's a person, not an object" Amity spits angrily and takes a step at Lillith, who takes a step back out of sheer surprise at the girl's anger.

"My my, someone has a temper" she comments with a raised eyebrow.

"As your mentor Amity, I would advise against speaking so rashly to your elders and betters, now stop this nonsense and move!" Lillith speaks with unbridled authority and takes a step forward, glowering down at the teenage witch with a cold glare.

Amoty naturally takes one back, she feels a tight grip in her chest, her mind tells her to back down, She couldn't beat Lillith in a fight, Lillith was the head of the Emperors coven for titans sake! What if word got to her parents that she had been so rude to her hard won mentor, what if Lillith banned her from the Emperor's coven?

Amity's mind races and she glances over her shoulder at Luz, Willow and Gus.

Gus and his double were in a fighting stance, glaring daggers at Lillith, Willow still had the green thumb gauntlet, standing in front of Luz, ready to defend her with a frown on her face that just didn't quite fit.

Luz herself was watching Amity, unlike the others whose eyes were on Lillith.

Luz looked at Amity, eyes on hers and gave her a scared but understanding smile, as if to tell her it was okay, she didn't have to fight for her, she could back off and Luz wouldn't hate her for it, this girl really was the most precious thing Amity had ever seen.

Amity closes her eyes and turns back to face Lillith, eyes closed, head tilted forward and ears down, as if surrendering.

"There we go, now step aside my dear, this will be over shortly" Lillith assures and moves to step forward.

A sludge hand grabs Lilliths elbow from behind her, she turns to look to see it emerging from a purple circle in the ground only a few feet back.

Lillith tries to break its grip but it holds firm, when she looks back at Amity, the girls eyes are open and she is mad.

Amity draws a circle and raises an arm, the circle appears on the ground and sloshes with the purple muck of the abominations, but rather than forming a humanoid shape, it took the shape of the raised hand, Amity faced her palm awY from Lillith and pulled her arm back, as if about to back hand the witch.

Lillith's eyes widen "Amity Blight if you dare…"

Amity does the motion and Lillith is sent careening back along the room, barely stopping herself falling to the floor, she had barely raised a shield in time to block the attack, but the force had sent her and it flying back.

Lillith righted herself with as much dignity as she could muster, straightening her hair and trying to act civilised.

"If that is what you wish Miss Blight, have it your way" Lilloth says and spins her staff, before taking a stance.

Neither side moved an inch for a solid minute, Lillith barely managed to slide her foot forward before something shot down form the ceiling on top of her, or more accurately, fell on top of her.

All four kids looked stunned as Indigo lay on top of Lillith, both looked dazed and a little confused, thankfully Indigo was quicker to come around and staggered to their feet.

"Weh gotta…. Go" they say unevenly, they looked physically sick, sweating, glasay eyes and stumbling as if suffering from constant dizziness.

Willow and Gus put their respective artifacts back quickly, running over to help Indigo stand up.

Luz moves next to Amity, still clutching the hat, they two share a look, but it's short lived, Gus and Willow get thrown towards them, a beam blue magic of magic grabs the healer's hat and pulls it out of Luz's grasp.

Before them, Lillith held Indigo inside a magic bubble, eyes furious.

"That. Is. Enough" Lillith snaps her fingers and the bubble shrinks, Indigo curls up inside the bubble, it barely had space for them now but thankfully it stops shrinking.

The four kids stare at Lillith. Amity and Willow took the front in defense of the other two, but Lilloth simply tells them.

"Go, tell Eda I have this one, if she wants them back, she will meet me for a witches duel" she tosses her staff at Amity who catches it in surprise before it scoops them all onto it, it was a tight fit but soon they were all flying through the air towards Bonesborough.

None of the kids really had time to process things fully as they landed.

The staff lands them before the owl house, flinging all of them off into a pile on the grass and floating upright, eyes glowing at the door.

Hooty had opened the door and Eda had come out to investigate, her eyes sharpening at the sight of the staff, upon glancing at who was present, she easily put two and two together.

"Lillith has Indigo doesn't she?" She demands as she walks over to the kids to check them over.

Luz nods, she hadn't said a word the entire time on the flight home, just clinging to Willows back and staring at nothing.

"Alright I'm gonna need to know what happened" Eda says sharply and looks amongst the kids.

Amity was on her feet "We… tried to get the healing hat for your curse" she began but Eda raises a brow

"We?" She asks.

"Yes, we, all of us" Amity says flatly "Lillith caught us, I… may have witch slapped her with an abomination hand…" she mutters the last sentence.

Eda took a moment to absorb this information.

"Well dang girl if you wanted into the bad girl coven that badly you could have just asked" Eda says looking quite impressed before clearing her throat "But this does mean that Lily is quite… ticked off"

"Indigo also… fell on top of her to try and help us, they were really… out of it" Luz finally pipes up.

"Out of it how?" Eda asks

"Dizzy, ill looking, glassy eyes, said they felt sick" Luz describes.

"Oh man, that poor kid... and now they're stuck there without you guys, we gotta get em outta there" Eda says in worry.

Footsteps drew all their attentions to Em and Ed walking up to the owl house with smiles on their faces, which immediately drop to concern when they see tye scene before them.

"Whats… going on?" Emira asks in concern, she noted immediately that Indigo wasn't present.

-One tense explanation later-

The twins sat in the owl house, just as pale as everyone else.

Edric looked sick with worry, excusing himself quickly.

Emira was about to go after him but Amity stopped her.

"Give him a minute" she murmurs.

Emira sighs and nods, sitting back down.

"Eda what are we going to do?" Luz asks

"Well clearly I have to duel Lillith to get the kid back" Eda says carefully.

"But your curse!" Luz argues anxiously.

"I can make it quick, someone just needa to grab the kid away from her, Lilly can be a tricky customer when she's determined" Eda explains 

"Edric might be best for that, he can fly" Emira pipes up.

"He won't get close on that staff kid"

"No I mean he has the batwolf cloak" Emira corrects.

"Batwolf… wait… where is that boy?" Eda asks.

"He needed some air" Amity explains.

"Ah come on!" Eda says and looks out the window "He's gone" 

Amity and Emira glance at each other before running to the door to look outaide, sure enough, Edric was nowhere to be seen.

"He wouldn't have…" Amity started but gets cut off by Emira sighing heavily in annoyance 

"You and I both know he'd do that for them" she says bluntly.

The two walk back in "He's gone there to get them hasn't he?" Eda asks with a hand on her hip

"Most likely" Emira says and pinches the bridge of her nose.

Eda sighs heavily as well "Alright, everyone stays here NO ONE follows me" Eda says sharply and points to all of them, summoninng her staff and heading out 

"King make sure they all stay put" Eda orders on her way out.

King immediately jumps from Luz's lap to the table to start strutting around with his eyes closed.

Eda takes Lilloths staff and heads off, jetting towards the castle.

After about ten minutes of flying, Eda spots an odd sight, it looked like a huge bat, but on closer inspection, it was a humanoid wolfbat, that was clearly the boy, Eda flys after him and grabs him out of the air, pausing mid air.

"And just where the in the nine hells do yoy think you are going?" Eda demands as the boy struggles in her grip.

"I have to help them!" Edric barks in the squeakiest voice and Eda almost drops him as she snorts to herself for a second.

"Look kid, Im gonna go and duel my sister, you…" Eda has to pause as she looks at the boy, he was trying to use that face, that puppy dog face Luz would use, but it was far more convincing when actually combined with the boys currently borrowed features.

"Oh for the love of…. FINE, yeesh" Eda lets the boy go, he audibly yelps and flaps rapidly to get back into the air.

"But you are only there to get our empath out of danger, you do NOT try to fight my sister, capiche?"

"Ca-what?" Edric asks in confusion.

"Do ya get it kid?" Eda rephrases.

"Oh yeah yeah, get Indigo out of there, nothing else" Edric nods in understanding.

"Good, grab on, can't have you exhausted when we get there or you won't get the drop on Lily." Eda says and points behind her.

Edric flaps up behind Eda and sits on the staff, they jet off once again.

-Back at the Owl House-

King was currently in a choke hold, Luz was pacing around with him practically glued to her chest with her arms, eyes on the floor as she paced back and forth in front of the coffee table.

"Can someone… please…. Help me" King squeaks and waves his tiny arms in yhe other kids direction.

"You wouldn't let her leave, you knew the price" Gus says with a shrug.

"She did warn you this would happen" Willow says matter of factly.

Amity just looks around at the group, glancing at Emira who was glaring at the window, waiting for her brother to get back.

Amity knew Emira was worried sick, gently nudging her and giving her a smile when the grumpy teen glances her way, her face softens a little.

"Im gonna kill him, how could he be so reckless?" She mutters.

"Like you wouldn't do it if it were Viney being held against her will?" Amity says very quietly, making Emira's ears turn red.

"I… it's not like that…" 

"Yet?"

"Mmph shut up"

Amity gives her sister a smile.

At this point King was at his breaking point.

"Alright! Alright! Do what you want just let me go!" He squeaks helplessly.

Luz immediately releases him.

"I'm gonna borrow Indie's staff" she informs no one in particular and picks it up from leaning on the wall, giving it a testing tap on the ground, Mollus' wings spread dilligently.

Emira and Amity stand, along with Gus and Willow.

"Hold up, Eda's already gonna kill me for letting you go, she'll extra kill me if I let all of you just go" he says and stomps a foot.

Luz looks back at everyone, Willow and Gus step back.

"We were no match for Lillith earlier, we would just get in the way" Willow says.

Amity glances at Emira, who nods.

I'Ill go with you Luz" she says. 

Luz gives a relieved smile and nods.

"Maybe Edric's palismen will let you use his staff, you are family" she reasons.

"Heh, not because she's family, because she's Amity" Emira says with a smirk, making Amity blush at the praise and the fact that Emira had actually used her real name for once, that in itself was rare enough.

Amity reaches for Edric's staff, doing what Luz had done and tapping the end to the floor, Tolken's wings flared open obediently.

The two teens head off immediately after Eda and Edric, who were now mere moments from getting to the castle.

"Alright kid, here's your stop, pick you moment wisely, I'll get Lily as far back as I can so she cant try to blast at you, once your out of it, get as far off as you can, 'Ill find you once I've finished up this duel" Eda instructs and lets Edric flap off of the staff.

"What if it doesn't go as planned?" Edric asks seriously.

"Listen, you get them, you fly away, I will deal with everything else" Eda says firmly.

Edric stares for a moment before nodding "Okay"

-At the Emperors Castle-

Lillith stood on the bridge waiting, the kid she held within the bubble was rather sickly, even she was beginning to get worried for them, despite being flattened by them not hours previously, a healer had briefly checked them over, determining they were technically physically fit, but if it was an act, it was an all too convincing one, Lillith wasn't without morals, even if they could be shaky ones.

Lillith hears a disturbance and before she knows it, Eda is there, staring at her menacingly.

"So sis, this is your big plan huh? Get me to duel you while that poor kid suffers in a bubble?" Eda asks "I thought you going after Luz was low… but this?" She points a finger at Indigo.

"This Lily… takes all the cake" she growls and twirls her staff, before sending Lillith's jetting right past her head and into the stone behind her.

Lillith looks back at the staff splintering the stone of the castle and summons it to her side before facing Eda.

"I will do what I must to bring you in Edalyn, although given their state, I'm surprised you even came for this one, you tend to stay very… detatched from people" Lillith says coyly.

Eda growls "Well, you wanted a duel Lily, just you remember that when I'm kicking your kester from here to the knee and back" Eda says and twirls her staff, lunging forward as Lillith does the same.

Edric watches from high above, the new Batwolf eyes allowed him to see even further than normal, meaning he could see the fight even from this ridiculous height.

The flash of orange and blue seemed to smack around rapidly, never really staying in one place for long, once the two were well away from the bubble, Edric began his dive, pivoting his body forward and folding in his wings, they detach from his wrist and pin to his back, allowing his to use his arms, something he had picked up during practice with Emira all day.

Edric's eyes narrow as wind flies into his face, his eyelids protected his eyes well from dust and debris at this speed, just as he got to place, his wings flared and he flung his arms and legs into place, effectively grabbing the small bubble and soaring right out of there in a manner of seconds, he wasnt sure if anyone had even noticed him, he chances a glance back at the battlw to see… two staff riders just beyond them in the distance, one black and one white, with two very distinctive people on one each.

"Oh ---" Edric is cut off as he rams into a tree, the bubble had saved both him and Indigo from a rather nasty injury as it popped once the two fell to the ground.

Edric groans and sits up, flicking off his cape hood so he could see normally, Indigo lay on the ground near him, their eyes closed and their body slumped completely, were they unconcious?

Edric looks back towards the castle, he didn't think he could fly them both back home like this, nor could he leave Indigo here defenseless to go help his sister and Luz, he would have to wait.

Luz charges through the air with Amity hot on her heels, the two had been completely silent the entire time, both determined to help Eda and save their friends/brother.

Once the battle was in sight however, it was clear who was winning, Luz plummets to land on the ground, Indigo's palisman had let her fly with it, but it did not take her orders, so she couldnt use it to help Eda, 

Luz pulls out a pair of glyphs, slapping them together and forms a bridge of lightning between her hands, meanwhile, Amity had landed and summoned an abomination arm to swat Lillith from the sky, Lillith was clearly surprised and as she looks towards the two girls, putting up a full shield and both sides were barraged with attacks.

Lillith looks up at Luz, before she smiles, flicking a finger at Luz, who feels herself being levitated, her eyes widen as she is flung over the edge!

Amity races forward to grab Luz' hand before she's out of reach, grabbing it but getting pulled over the edge herself, grabbing the very edge tightly to stop them both plummeting to the jagged spikes below.

Luz grips Amity' hand tightly, she didn't dare move and put more pressure on the other holding them both up.

Above the two, it was clear Eda was trying to get to them, trying to help them, but Lillith wasn't letting her, a spell is cast and Amity is levitated, but the aura was blue.

The aura pulls the two girls well away from the edge, it then attempts to pull them apart, in which is succeeds despite both girls efforts, before Luz is promptly dropped once again.

A yell is heard throughout the castle ground and Luz is levitated before she hits the spikes.

Eda looks down at Luz, blackness is seeping into her eyes and over her gem.

Amity is helpless to watch as Eda speaks to Luz, Luz pleads with Eda but it's no use, Eda raises a hand, after thanking Luz for being in her life, before raising a hand and screaming, a blinding flash of light errupts from her, Luz is held in the air as Owlbert comes swooping down to her, Lillith has been knocked back and the aura around Amity disappears, letting her fall to the bridge below, looking up to see Eda on the ground, running over to kneel by her as Luz appears beside her as well once Owlbert had her safely on the bridge.

Eda gives an inhuman scream and turns, going full Owl beast, Amity pulls Luz back quickly as the beast lunges at them, but is caught in a blue rope, pulled back by Lillith who glances up at something with a smile.

Amity feels Luz wrench her hand out of hers and charge at Lillith with a yell, Owlbert follows her and pulls at Lilliths hair, Amity made to follow the girl but ends up catching Luz as Lillith tosses her off of her back.

Amity catches Luz with a grunt and stumbles back, Lillith grabs Owlbert from the air and hits her staff against the bridge and it begins moving away from them slowly.

"Go home Human, Edalyn is with her family now, her real family."

Luz gets to her feet and tries to get there before it's too far but doesn't make it. 

"Go home Human, Edalyn is with her family now, her real family." Lillith says coldly.

Luz simply has to stand there, watching as Eda is dragged inside the castle and the doors are shut, guards taking place in front of the door immediately, glowering at the girls.

Amity moves forward, taking Luz's arm and pulling her away from the edge of the bridge, she didn't know how tolerant those guards would be to their clearly unwelcome presence.

Luz was reluctant to move, but Amity was persisstant and eventually got her on a staff and heading back, though something didn't feel right and she was forced to speak.

"Where are Edric and Indigo?" She asks quietly.

Luz lifts her head slowly, stopping midflight and looking back at the castle, her eyes follow a path for a moment, as if trying to work something out, before her head moves to the left and she heads in that direction.

Amity blinked in confusion but followed wordlessly.

It only took ten minutes to find the two, sprawled on the ground, Edric was leaning against an indented tree with Indigo slouched against him, he looks up when he sees the two approach, but his relief is short lived as his eyes flicker around them in confusion before he stands, a little stiffly.

"Where's…?" Edric is cut short by Luz landing sharply in front of him, she moves to check Indigo, trying to shake them awake, clearly worried.

Edric looks to Amity, who shakes her head slowly, Esrics ears pin against his head, if he had been more careful…. He could have gone back to help!

Indigo makes an uncomfortable noise as Luz pinches their ear, a last ditch effort to wake them, it works, but Indigo is clearly grumpy at the rude awakening, hissing a little with her eyes still shut.

"Le' meh aloooone" they says and swat at Luz's hand, but the moment her hand touched Luz's, Indigo inhales sharply and their eyes open wide as if they'd just been hit with a wave of ice cold water.

"Hah! Whah! Where am ah!" They say and look around in panic and confusion for several seconds, before their eyes return to Luz.

"Whah happened?" They ask quietly, but Luz just beckons them up, offering a hand.

Indigo accepts the hand and stands, visibly flinching as they stand.

"Ahahaow" they say and their body kind of curls in on itself "Why do Ah feel like ah hi' a tree?" 

"Probably cuz we did, but you were in a bubble" Edric says.

Indigo blinks and glances at him, before looking at the tree he was looking at.

"Thah… would explain eh then" Indigo says and slowly moves to stand by Luz.

"Ah think yeh migh' need teh steer fer meh Luz…" Indigo says quietly.

Luz just nods and activates the staff, mounting it and letting Indigo climb on the back.

Edric limps over to where Amity was hovering and hops on behind her, getting a small elbow to the ribs.

"Owwwww" he says and curls forward "Whyyyyy?"

"For making us worry" Amity say sharply, but her face softens as he brother hugs her tightly and murmurs several apologises into her shoulder.

"I probably deserved more than that huh? But can we avoid my ribs for now please?" Edric asks as they take off after Luz and Indigo.

Amity looks back in concern "You said you hit a tree? Was it bad?" 

"Not particularly, I was just going pretty fast and the bubble hit the tree and I was behind the bubble so my ribs got the majority of the blow" he explains "I…. I saw you two flying towards the fight…" he says quietly and tightens his grip on Amity protectively.

The four land haphazardly outside the Owl House, Luz helping Indigo inside as Amity offers her brother a shoulder.

Edric hesitates "Maybe I should just wait out here…?" He asks but Amity shakes her head.

"You're hurt Edric, you need to get seen to"

"..." Esric looks at the door anxiously.

"I dont think I should go in…" he states and hobbles to sit on a rock nearby.

"Edric get up and get inside now" Amity orders sharply, but her brother ignores her, putting his head on his knees with his arms wrapped around it.

Amity sighs in worry and heads inside, maybe Emira could convince him to come inside.

Inside was probably not a good idea after all.

Luz was on the couch, explaining everything to Indigo, whose face severely lacked colour, even for them, King and Hooty as well as Gus and Willow were gathered around to listen as well.

Emira was leaning against the divide between the kitchen and the sitting area, her eyes spotted Amity at the door and she got up to head towards her immediately, fire burning in her eyes.

Amity knew she had to stop Emira before she went yelling at their brother, he wasn't in a very good state to begin with, he didn't need an extremely angry sister on top of everything else.

Once Emira was just outside the door, Amity grabs her hand and pulls her aside.

"Emira first off, don't yell at him, he's hurt, second off avoid his ribs if your gonna jab him or something" Amity states quickly "I already elbowed him for sneaking off" she adds as Emira processes all of this and glances at Edric.

Emira's fire simmers down into a gruff huff in her throat before she walks over to flick her idiot brothers ear and get him to look up at her.

"How many times have I told you to stop running off on your own?"

"Counting this time… uh 3? Maybe 4? It has been surprisingly lacking in our conversations, heck I used to think you wanted me to leave you alone" Edric tries to laugh but immediately regrets it in doubles over.

Emira is quick to kneel down.

"What exactly happened?" She asks as Amity walks over.

"I got Indigo out of harms way in that bubble they were in… looked back and saw Luz and Amity going towards the fight, then we hit a tree" Edric croaks softly.

Emira summons her scroll and quickly starts typing.

"What are you doing?" 

"Asking Viney if she can come and check you over" 

"What? Why?"

"You really think we should let our parents know about all this?"

"No…"

"Then Viney is basically our only option for healers right now" Emira says as her scroll buzzes and she checks it.

"She'll be here soon, c'mon, catching a cold isn't gonna help those ribs, get up and get inside" Emira goes to help but Edric recoils.

"No… I…. I can't go in there" he says quickly.

"Why not?"

"Because I should have been able to stop Eda from getting caught, if I had paid enough attention I could have protected Amity and Luz so Eda could have won that fight and everyone would be fine…. I saw how Luz looked at me when she landed…. I'm not welcome in there" 

Emira pauses in her retort, she wasn't sure how to reassure him, Luz was in no condition to speak to anyone rationally right now, Eda wasn't here, Indigo was basically exhausted and potentially concussed. 

"Alright Ed, if you're staying out here then so am I" Emira says matter of factly "Budge over would ya? I dont wanna sit on the ground"

Edric looks up in surprise but complied and scoots over so his sister can sit on the rock as they wait for Viney to come.

Amity walks over, putting an arm around each twin's neck and pulling them into a hug, which they both lean in to.

-Half an hour later-

Viney glides on Puddles back, she can see the Owl house coming into view, she was very confused as to why Emira had texted her out of the blue to come there asap and bring medical supplies, but if it was medical, she wouldn't say no.

Viney spots three figures sitting outside the owll house, all with distinctively green hair of some shade, she steers Puddles towards them and lands nearby, grabbing her bag from the griffon's claws and running over, all three Blights were now looking at her.

"Alright who is hurt?" She asks immediately, she couldn't see any outright injuries, but Edric looked pale.

"Uh, my ribs…" 

Viney waisted no time and walked over, shooing the other two away and setting down her bag.

"How long ago did it happen?" She asks and she gets out what she needs.

"Uh about an hour or so ago" Edric says anxiously.

"Any other pains or aches? Back, neck, head or hips? Any fever or difficulty breathing?"

"No…" Edric answers.

Emira had backed up with Amity, both watched Viney as she worked, Emira had seen Viney like this a couple of times, she was very proffesonal when it came to healing and very thorough.

"Puddles, come here please" Viney calls and the griffon pads over quickly, after a quick motion, Puddles uses her wings to cover the two from view, presumably to give Edric privacy which Viney applied bandages and glyphs.

Aftwr a few moments, the griffon's wings moved back to her sides.

"Alright Puddles, time for cuddles" Viney says and the griffon immediately goes about nuzzling Edric who gains a bashful smile and cuddles the griffon right back.

Viney walks over to the other two.

"Anyone else?" She asks.

"Indigo…. They might have hit their head possibly" Emira says and points to the owl house.

Viney blinks and nods, glancing at Edric before looking at Emira.

"His ribs are badly bruised, he's very lucky there were no breaks, I expect this wasn't just some prank gone wrong… I may need the FULL story just to be sure both of them are definatly getting all the healing they need" her emphasis made both girls flinch.

"Your reactions aren't filling me with hope for what's to come" Viney says before a thought strikes her.

"Wait… why don't you just ask Eda to heal these two?" She asks and the immediate panic in the two girls eyes makes Viney anxious.

"Okay that's a question for after healing then" she says aloud to herself and walks past the two and into the Owl house, where she was met with confusion and sorrow on the faces of everyone there.

"Viney?" Luz asks.

"Yeah… Emira called me over, said some people needed medical help, said Indigo's head might have been hit" Viney says as she walks towards the couch.

Indigo looks at Viney with a glassy eyed look as she got closer.

"Judging by Edric's injuries, I'm gonna say you will most definataly have a concussion, so just sit back and try to avoid sudden movements while I get checking for other injuries" Viney says before looking at the others around.

"If you all could give us some space that would be appreciated, except you Luz, I might need a hand"

Everyone but Luz quickly left as instructed, Willow and Gus had to head home for the day, promising to come back tomorrow.

Hooty retreated to his door and King went upstairs, muttering about being in Eda's room.

Indigo took a moment to process what Viney had said, trying to sit forward.

"Ed is hurt?" They ask before flinching and clutching their head.

"I've taken care of him, he is perfectly fine right now, Puddles is on cuddle duty outaide with him" Viney assures them.

Indigo lets go of their head and looks at Viney, allowing her to check over her head for cuts or scrapes, before putting a healing glyph on her forehead.

"That should keep the pain at bay for now but please don't go exerting yourself, concussions aren't too serious so long as you rest and let your head recover, get lots of sleep and eat and drink plenty, try to avoid leaving the house for at least a day or two" Viney instructs.

Viney looks over to Luz who is sitting by Indigo but staring at the floor.

"Now for you" Viney says and walks over to Luz, who looks up 

"But I'm not hurt" Luz says quickly.

"Not physically no" Viney says and sits down beside her "But something is hurting you, you don't have to tell me everything, but with Eda's absence and what happened at school the other day… well it isn't hard to put the pieces together" Viney says wisely, looking at the young human whose head was down, eyes watering as she hugs herself for comfort.

Viney notices Indigo curling up on themselves as Luz gets more distressed, she had always suspected something about them, but the pieces were starting to click together.

"I'm just gonna take a wild guess here but, the field trip went wrong somehow, someone got in trouble and Eda went to help and didn't come back?" She asks, she had known about the field trip but she had already been.

Luz' eyes widen and then shut tightly as she pulls her knees to her chest and puts her forehead against them, hiding her face from view.

"Alright, your reaction tells me you are probably blaming yourself for what happened"

"Because its my fault" Luz says quietly "I tried to steal the hat for Eda, Indigo got caught because of me, Edric and Eda went to save them and were doing just fine until I went charging off again to try and help, if I weren't there Lillith couldn't have used me against Eda, not to mention Amity almost fell WITH me"

"Wait… Lillith threw Amity too?" Indigo asks drowsily, the glyph had stopped the pain but they simply couldn't sleep yet, they weren't sure why.

"No, just me, Amity grabbed me before I fell, Lillith pulled us both up and brought Amity back over the bridge, then let me fall again, Eda used up her magic to save me, then…." Luz stops there and crumples, she simply couldn't continue.

Viney places a hand on the girls back as she cries into her knees, unable to console her.

"Would you like me to stay?" Viney asks softly.

Luz sniffs and nods into her knees.

Indigo was feeling too much and got shakily to her feet.

"Ah need air" they say quietly and headed to the door, in reality they had figured out why they couldn't sleep.

Outside, the Blights were sitting against the cuddly griffon, who was still nuzzling Edric, who was telling the others about what happened on his side.

"And then we hit the tree, I couldn't move much and Indigo was unconsious, I couldn't just leave them there alone" Edric says quietly as Puddles coos and rubs his head with hers from the side.

"Ed that was the smartest thing to do, if you had tried to go back you could have gotten hurt a lot worse and who knows what creature might've gotten to Indigo" Amity reasons from her spot on Puddles back.

"Yeah bro, you did the right thing, you kept yourself and Indigo safe" Emira says and gets him in a playful but loose headlock to ruffle his already messy hair some more, careful not to make him bend over and hurt him.

"Please tell meh yeh arent gettin' upseh too" Indigo asks as they walk around Puddles, looking a little shaky.

Edric was quick to try and stand to help them, but Puddles didn't allow him to, raising a clawed foot to his shoulder to keep him sitting, cooing softly.

Indigo chuckles as they see Edric huff at the griffon but he couldn't maintain it for longer than a second as the sweet thing cooed and nuzzled him against her cheek again.

"Ehs arigh, Ed, ah'm good, Vineh gave meh a glyph teh stop de pain" they saw and point a thumb at their forehead.

"Now all ah gotta do is rest" they add and before anyone can say anything else, Emira had stood up and pointedly pushed Indigo to sit beside Edric.

"Hey Mittens, I feel like Luz could use a few more friends, let's go see how she's doing huh?" Emira asks and helps Amity off of Puddles so they can walks towards the Owl House.

Edric watches his sisters leave in confusion, before glancing at Indigo, who was leaning against the now apparently sleeping griffon.

"Yeh goh hurt" Indigo says quietly as their eyes move to look at Edric.

"I'm fine, just some bruised ribs, like I said before, I've had worse" Edric assures "But you also got hurt…" Edric says as he looks over at them.

"Heh, can' say I've had worse, cept maybe in thah castle, eh was horrible in theh, ah coul'n think 'er feel anythin' jus this awful feelin thah ah was just rottin' away" indigo physically shivers at the thought.

Edric scoots a little closer and takes their hand.

"Yeh have neh idea how glad ah was when yeh swooped on in teh grab meh, yeh looked pre'eh awesome by de way" Indigo says quietly and grips Edric's hand tightly.

"Yeah… probably the most awesome thing I've ever done in my life…. Can't really feel proud of it right now" Edric adds with a sigh.

Indigo nods "Ah gehcha, hard teh beh happy teh beh free when Eda goh taken" Indigo agrees "An worse yeh ah jus' can' fall asleep, teh many emotions runnin' high, buh ah need teh sleep teh geh be'er apparen'leh" 

Edric blinks and gives a smile 

"Maybe I can help with that" he says and lets go of their hand "Gimme a hug?" He asks as he puts his arms up for one.

Indigo pauses, glancing at his chest and back at him.

"I migh' hurt yeh more" they say quietly.

"It's fine, you can hug my neck instead" he offers and makes grabby hands at them with a goofy smile on his face.

"C'mon, I promise, its fine" 

Indigo gives a quiet sigh and sits forward to turn and sling their arms around Edrics neck as he pulls them into a hug, 

Indigo felt their mind begin to relax, Edric had apparently mastered some form of meditation, or at least he had mastered how to channel one of his emotions to be so prominent that it would flood Indigo's mind when they made contact, as of now, he was completely focused on feeling comfortable.

Indigo felt their eyes start to close, Edric was speaking to them, mostly comforting words, trying to help them sleep, but they heard one particular line of speech that stuck out.

"I really like you Indie… maybe one day I'll actually be able to tell you that when you aren't asleep"

Edric probably thought they had been asleep, which is why they didn't speak, not that they really could have anyways, their eyes slid shut slowly, but they made a mental note to tell him they had heard his confession.

Edric guides the now sleeping Indigo into the Owl house, pausing at the door.

The couch was currently occupied by Emira, Amity, Viney and Luz all sharing a hug, which, while very adorable and clearly much needed, kind of hindered Edric's plan to let Indigo sleep there.

Emira spots Ed at the doorway, gently nudging Luz "Go on, ask him"

Luz looks over at Edric, who for a moment freezes before seeing Luz's face looked hopeful.

"Em says I could ask to see your wolfbat form" she says softly.

Emira meets Edrics eye and mouths "It'll distract her" 

Edric leads Indigo to the couch and gets them sitting down, before standing and glancing at Viney

"This wont affect the glyph right?" He asks but all Viney could do was shrug.

"If they come off I have more" she assures.

Edric nods and sits in front of Luz before flipping the hood of his cloak up and seeing all the girls eyes light up.

"Aw, he does look cute" Viney coos and Luz giggles a little.

Edrics ears drop to the back of his head as all the girls coo bout how cute he looks, naturally this was followed by many pairs of hands curiously investigating the fluff on his head, Edric just sighs and allows them to mess up his fluff once again, Luz looked so much happier now, if this helped, he would happily put up with it.

Viney was also asking him questions, similar to Indigo's from when she was in that state.

"Oh yeah, I can also deatch my wings from my wrists so i can use my arms when I'm flying" Edrix says and demonstrates, Luz looks at the back of his wings curiously "Hey, the back of them is fuzzy too" she says.

Edric raises a brow and flicks the now free wings forward to inspect the back, as Luz said it was in fact covered in a much thinner layer of fuzz but it was in fact fuzzy.

"Huh, didn't see that the first time, I suppose that's because I was practically mauled by those two" he says and points an accusing paw over his shoulder at his sisters, who were laughing and messing with his fluffy hair, he was sure they were braiding it.

-An hour later- 

Indigo opens their eyes to a rather bizzare scene of events, some kind of bat wolf hybrid sat before the group of girls, getting its fur braided, it took them a minute to realise who the wolfbat hybrid was.

"Am Ah dreamin' again?" Indigo asks aloud as they stare at the scene, almost all of the girls and Edric jump in surprise.

"Oh hey, you're awake, how's the head feel?" Viney asks, getting up to walk over and press lightly at Indigo's temples, they felt no pain from the pressure applied.

"Noh hur'in' anymore, thanks Vineh" Indigo replies and Viney nods in satisfaction.

"Good, keep the glyph on for the rest of the night though, it should keep any dizzy spells away too" 

"Alrigh' buh Ah still wanna know whahs hapoenin' der" they says and piint towards the scene where the others had begun cuddling the obviously worn out but tolerating it, wolfbat.

Viney lowers her voice to a whisper "Edric used his cloak to turn into a wolfbat to cheer Luz up for a while, get her mind off of the events of the day"

Indigo's eyes lot up with understanding, reaching up to pull up the hood of their cowl 

The girls look over as the very fluffy JagIndigo walks over, sitting down on the floor.

"Ah don' think eh 'as aneh fur lefteh braid, wanna try meh now?" They ask and get swarmed quickly.

Indigo sends Edric a amile and he gives a tired smile in return, the appreciation for their noble sacrifice was clear and radiant.

Luz quickly took the spot on Indigo's lap as her own, cuddling into them as they returned the cuddles, the poor girl deserved every second of hugs she received, while the other girls made quick work of braiding any fluff Indigo had to offer.

A buzzing made Amity check her scroll, a moment later Emira's buzzed too.

"Half hour warning to be home" Amity says with a sigh.

Luz looked over and Indigo could feel her worry and disappointment at Amity (and Emira) leaving.

"Hey, yeh cough ask ef yeh cou' stah over, tell em yeh stahen ah mah place" Indigo says "If theh wan' Ed hanging bou' wheh meh then theh can' sah no teh yeh all haning bou' weh meh righ'?" They ask.

Amity looks at Emira "Do you think they would fall for it?" She asks quietly.

"Maybe, I'll send a message to see what they say." Emira replies and shoots a message back.

It took only a moment for the reply to come

"Huh, they said yes, ugh, but we have to ask Indigo's parents to call" Emira says.

Indigo blinks "Geh'meh yer scroll?" they say and hold out an unoccupied paw.

In a few clicks Indigo is soon hearing a voice, a very proper voice, on the other end of the phone, Indigo silently clears their throat before speaking.

"Yes Ma'am this is indeed, might I clarify with whom I speak?" Every jaw in the room drops as Indigo takes on a whole other voice and mannerism compared to their own, they sounded almost… regal.

"Ah yes, our child has told us of your family Mrs Blight, all good things i assure you, we do so hope to meet you soon, after hearing such stellar things about the young master Blight we simply had to invite them all for dinner, though as it may be late by the time they finished and with such a long flight to return we were hoping to seek your permission to allow them to stay the night…?" 

Everyone in the room watches Indigo in complete silence.

"Yes of course, I will gladly escort them home, do give my regards to Mr Blight, I look forward to our meeting, till tomorrow" Indigo pulls the scroll away from their ear with a grin as the call ends.

"Where in the nine hells did you learn to do that?!" Emira asks as she takes back her scroll.

"Bard class" Indigo says in the same voice and tone "I can do a lot of different accents, both male and female" as they said each one, their tone changed from one to the other.

"That was so cool" Luz says in a sleepy voice before yawning and slapping her cheeks.

"So we are staying the night? All of us?" Amity asks

"All of you" Indigo confirms.

"Not to sound ungrateful in any way but… where are we going to sleep?" Amity asks.

"Ah… didn' think thah far ahead…." Indigo admits and rubs their furry but now braides neck "Luz are there more rooms upstairs 'sides yours or.." Indigo hesitates, Luz knows why.

"It's okay, Im gonna sleep in Eda's room, Amity you can take my bed if you want, there should be room for you and Emira to share, Ed, uh"

"Ed can have the couch, ah am more en capable oh sleepin' on meh feet" Indigo replies simply.

"No need!" Edric says and seems excited, moving to the wall and running up, using his new feet to hold the ceiling, putting his tail over the beam he clung to and wrapping his wings around himself.

"See?" He says smugly "I always wanted to try sleeping like this" he adds giddily.

Indigo snorts in amusement as the others shake their heads.

"Well, much as I would love to sleep over, there is clearly no room and also my dad was expecting me back an hour ago so I gotta go" Viney says and gives one more hug to Luz "Make sure you sleep well, I want no excuses in the morning" she warns.

"Bye Viney" Luz calls and waves, Viney passes by Emira who gently grabs her arm to whisper something in her ear, Viney nods and smiles before Emira reluctantly lets her go.

Luz slumps back into Indigo's lap.

"So this is the first witch sleepover I've ever been to" Luz says thoughtfully.

"Well we already braided the longest hairs" Emira says with a smirk at Edric who sticks out his tongue comically, he had to open his whole mouth to do it, which looked amusing to all. Especially since he was still upside down on the ceiling, hanging and swinging slightly.

"We could watch a movie on my phone!" Luz says and pulls it out.

Amity and Emira moved to see what Luz was doing, it looked like how a crystal ball would, but flat.

"Weird, but cool" Emira says and sits by Indigo, who playfully headlocks her to pull her close enough to see, gesturing for Amity to join Luz on her lap, who at first went red until Luz practically pulls her beside her, then she wasn't just red, she was several shades darker than red.

Insdgo glances up at Edric and moves an arm out on Amity's side, offering him a place in the obvious cuddle pile that was forming, which he naturally accepted as he dropped to the floor, snuggling up to Amity a bit, making her giggle as all his fluff tickles her.

The group sat there, content to watch the movie until both Luz and Amity fell asleep, Luz was basically cuddling Amity, it took some gentle persuasion to get Luz to sleepily release the girl and curl into Indigo as Emira lifts Amity to take her to bed. 

Indigo took Luz upstairs and gently laid her in Eda's bed, King wakes up for a moment to curl up in Luz's waiting arms, both share a hug before drifting off to sleep once again.

Indigo returns downstairs to see Ed on the couch, staring at the floor, his emotions were a little jumbled, mostly worry and fatigue.

"She will be okay" Indigo thinks to him as they sit by him and ruffle his fluff, making him grumble till he realises they are getting it back into shape for him.

"Yeah… We all know Luz isnt just going to sit and wait though. She's gonna try to get her back, Worse yet I can't even help with this" he indicates his ribs.

Indigo nods once and looks down.

"I wanted to tell you something" Indigo thinks quietly and Edric looks over at them.

"When you were helping me fall asleep… I heard you" 

Edric looked confused for a moment and then his eyes grew widen.

"Uh… heh, heard… what?" He asks in a higher pitch, which was impressive given his already squeaky voice due to the transformation.

"I heard you say that you liked me" Indigo explains softly.

"Ah… aaaaah, welp I'm gonna go jump off the cliff now scuse me!" Edric says and gets up, but all Indigo has to do is grab his shirt and pull him back down.

"I think that might be a tad dramatic don't you?" 

"I'm sorry have you met me? Or my family?" 

"Point taken"

"I…. I had a whole thing before I actually told you, I didn't want you to feel like you had to rescipricate just because I said I liked you, like I was ready for you to tell me where to stick it frankly" Eseic says and when Indigo looked confused he added clarification "It means tell me to bugger off" 

"Heh, I wasn't going to" Indigo thinks back but Edric doesn't seem to catch on as he continues.

"I mean, you have been outside your cave for…. Uh' a while, but, it wouldn't be fair of me to assume you might like me back, there's a lot of decent people you could end up liking later on so…." Edric pauses, slumping back against the couch with his palms against his face.

"Basically just…. You don't have to like me just because I like you" 

"Well what about you?"

"Huh?"

"What if your feelings are due to me being the first person to open up to you, let you talk to me about how you felt, let you cry around me"

"They aren't!"

"How do you know?"

"Because I would be able to tell appreciation from love!"

Indigo pauses for a moment as Edric clamps his mouth shut.

"Uh I mean…"

"So why wouldn't I?" Indigo asks softly.

Edric blinks and looks at them "Uh, I…. I just…"

"It's sweet that you went out of your way to ensure there was no pressure on me whatsoever, I appreciate that very much, and that appreciation… makes me like you more too"

Edric sat in silence for the next ten minutes, he seemed at a loss for words, before shyly wrapping his wings around himself and ducking his head down with a small "mph"

Indigo can't help but chuckle "what is it?" They ask.

"Shush!" Edric whines, but Indigo could see his tail wagging.

"Aw your tail is wagging, are you happy?" Indigo asks teasingly, they knew exactly how happy he was and he knew it.

Edric unfolds his wings and bats at them with his paws, to which they bat back, playfully smacking each other's hands for a moment and giggling quietly at each other before stopping.

"Heh, I… guess I probably should have asked how you felt first huh? Pretty big headed of me to assume you might like me back"

Indigo chuckles "Not really, I believe I also have been very not subtle in that aspect" they say with a smile, finally flicking off their hood to be themselves again.

"Uh… how so?" Edric asks with a quirked brow and Indigo snorts.

"Nah I wanted to see if I had been or not because I didn't know" Indigo says "You seem very good at reading me even without my kinds of powers to aide you"

Edric looks pleased.

"So are you staying as a woofsqueak all night or are you changing back?"

"What… did you just call me?" Edric asks and his eyes flick to Indigo.

"A woof-squeak, wolfbat, woof-squeak"

Edrics ears twitch as they lower and the look on his face screams annoyance.

Indigo just giggles hysterically "You look ready to bite me" they think in amusement before raising their hands "Alright are you gonna spend the right as a wolfbat?" They ask normally.

"Yes I am" Edric says simply "Now if you'll excuse me…" he stands but pauses as Indigo grabs his hand.

"Coul' yeh help meh geh back teh sleep?" 

"Sure thing"


	16. Revalution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz and her friends decide on their course of action, what will happen?

Revalution 

Morning sun broke through the uncovered glass of the Owl house, waking many of its inhabitants.

The first to rouse were Indigo and Edric, being the first hit by the rising sun, Edric had woken first and had pretty much fallen from his perch, which had fully awoken Indigo as they moved to catch him so he didn't end up hurt further.

The two were soon joined by Amity and Emira, the Blights were always up early, so naturally the three had developed an in body clock for when it was time to be awake.

Emira got started on breakfast, after struggling to find something to cook to begin with.

Normally Esrix was the breakfast maker, he seemed to enjoy it, being one of few things his family praised him for, though since no one let him leave the couch at the time, he couldn't go and help with the cooking.

The smell of breakfast must have wafted upstairs as the Blights and Indigo soon heard shuffling footsteps above them, if it was Luz, then she was either still half asleep, or she hadn't slept much, her gait, even though they could only hear it, was sluggish and stiff, nothing like her usual bounciness.

The others began getting worried, she hadn't actually come downstairs, it had been ten minutes since she had stopped walking.

Indigo decided to get up and investigate, it was quite possible she just didn't feel ready to face everyone.

Indigo stops at the top of the stairs.

Luz was staring at a door, one Indigo didn't recognise, it had a note on it.

Indigo moves to stand by Luz, the handwriting was very much Eda's, Indigo always found her writing hard to read.

Luz didn't notice Indigo was there until they leaned forward to try and read the note.

"Ah!" She screams loudly and makes Indigo jump "Indigo! When did you get here!? Don't sneak up on me like that!" 

"Ah didn'!" Indigo says defensively "Evereh floorboar' on dis hallwah squeaks! How dodja noh hear meh comin'?" They ask.

Luz looks down at the floor with a mix of frustration and tiredness.

"Nevermind" she says after exhaling and Indigo felt her calm a little.

"Are you having trouble reading this?" She asks, realising why the other had leaned over her to begin with.

"Yeh.." Indigo rubs their neck.

Luz sighs and takes the notw off of the door.

"It says "Hey Kiddo, I figured since you are always here I might as well make a room for you, don't get all mushy on me, take Luz in with you though, there's something in here for her too"

Indigo blinks in surprise, Eda made them a room? They stare at the door in silence.

"Are you gonna go in?" Luz asks.

Indigo's ears lower, they wanted to go in, but at the same time… it didn't feel right to do so when Eda was in the hands of Lillith and the Emperor's coven, but there was also something in there for Luz…

Indigo reaches for the handle and opens the door.

The room was small, there wasn't a bed, but Indigo never liked beds, there was however a comfy looking armchair, one wall was basically just a bookshelf with a ton of books, there were notes everywhere, on a small table was a wrapped up purple thing with a note that was addressed to Luz.

Indigo walks in and heads for the nearest note, already feeling a little overwhelmed by their own emotions.

Eda had made the writing bigger and less squiggly, probably so Indigo could read it without Luz's assistance.

"Hey Kid, I know you like stories and these were just taking up space in the attic so they're your problem now haha, most of them have larger fonts so you won't have to ask Luz to read all of them, unless you want to"

Indigo holds the note as they walk to the one on the chair.

"You hate beds and I respect that" 

The next few were just explanations of why things were there, like the little square thing made of the same material as the chair, it was there so Luz could read to them from it, apparently.

Luz had opened her own package and was now holding a purple cloak, complete with makeshift cat ears on the hood, she was reading the note now and tearing up as she read it, before slinging the cloak over her shoulders and looking back at Indigo.

"I'm going to save her"

Indigo nods, they had collected all the notes Eda had left them and stacked them neatly on the table, planning to keep them.

"I'm coming too"

"You can't… remember what happened last time you went to the castle? You could barely stand!" Luz says sharply.

"How do we know she is even still in the castle?" Indigo asks back and Luz pauses to think.

"It'll be on the news, them getting the Owl Lady would be a big thing" 

The two head back down the stairs, Indigo had nearly forgotten that the others were making breakfast.

"Eat first, then rescue" they say flarly and Luz almost argues, but her stomach growls loudly.

"You only had breakfast yesterday, you need to eat or you'll be as helpless as I was" Indigo reminds her.

Luz sighs and nods as they get to the bottom of the stairs.

Amity spots them first and gives Luz a once over in her new cloak.

"Wow Luz, never seen you in that before" she says quickly.

"It was a gift from Eda" Luz says and messes with the hood, the cat ears twitch a bit, as if they had a mind of their own.

"Oh… it looks great on you" Amity says and has to look away as Luz gives a sad smile.

"Well I hope you aren't planning to just run back to the castle on an empty stomach, sit down and have some breakfast, Em's cooking is decent enough" Edeic says and pats the spot beside him

"Excuse me?! Decent enough? You wolfed it down"

"I have to eat if i want my ribs healed in time to go with you guys"

"Ed… I don't think it's even remotely possible for you to go" Amity chirps in, her brother turns to her and frowns.

"Well I have to try dont I?" He huffs in annoyance.

"No you don't, none of you for, I'm going alone so no one else is at risk" Luz says in a much darker tone than anyone had ever heard her use, it seemed she had moved more into anger than mourning.

Indigo shakes their head "Not a chance, my head is healed, I'm going too"

"What, so you can get captured again once you keel over from all the negativity?!" Luz snaps back and Indigo physically flinches away, eyes wide with shock and very obvious hurt, no one spoke as Lux glared for a moment before she seemed to realize what she just said.

"Wait no that… that came out wrong I'm…" Luz didn't even get halfway through the apology before the front door shut behind Indigo.

"Mierda" Luz murmurs, none of the witches understood that word but after Luz's obvious regret from her anger fueled outburst, it was pretty clear what it meant.

"That…. Could have gone better" Amity tries quietly, Luz was angry, none of them had seen her truly angry before.

Luz's shoulders slump completely "Why did I say that….?" She murmurs as she presses her fists to her forehead.

"You were angry, you weren't thinking straight" Amity concludes "Anger, fear, especially for people you care about, can make you lash out in ways you normally wouldn't, I'm just as guilty of that…. I'd suggest going to talk to them" Amity says as Luz looks up.

"What can I even say?" Luz asks quietly.

"'I'm sorry' is usually a good start," Amity encourages.

Luz nods and gets up, looking at the door and heading outside to go and find her friend.

Indigo sat on the roof, clutching their head tightly, trying to calm the turmoil, but finding the endless labyrinth of fear, anger and despair practically impenetrable.

Luz noticed Indigo sitting on the roof, curled up and tried calling to them, but got no response.

"Hooty… can you get me onto the roof please?" Luz asks and is hoisted effortlessly up onto the flat roof, walking over to sit by Indigo, it was clear by the other's curled up and shaking state that they were overwhelmed, they needed something to pull them out of it.

Something positive, anything positive, cmon brain! Luz started chanting in her head, trying to will any possible positivity from this situation, it was hard, there was very little to gleam from any of this.

Luz slumps against Indigo, she was getting a headache already from trying to force herself into some kind of good mood, she couldn't feel anything but regret and anguish for hurting one of her best friends.

Hooty emerges again and off hops Edric, who walks stiffly towards them "Figured you might need a little help" he says softly and sits on Indigo's other side.

Luz doesn't answer, just watching Edric sit and put his arm around Indigo, pulling them against him gently in a half hug, earning a soft sob from Indigo.

"There you are," Edric says as Indigo lifts their head slowly.

Luz looks up at them as their head turns to her, seeing Luz there, pretty much crying, madeIndigo put an arm out to pull her into a half hug as well.

"Ah knoh yeh didn' mean eh Luz, eh jus' heh preheh hard, af'er seein' Eda's notes, she basically goh caugh' tryin' teh save meh from mah stupid mistake" Indigo says sadly.

"But I shouldn't have said it anyways, it's not your fault, Lillith decides to kidnap you, Lillith nearly killed me and Lillith had you stuck in a bubble for a long time, you were suffering in that place…."

Indigo closes their eyes and has to focus hard on Edric's positivity to help them stay in reality.

"C'mon now, ge'n mad ain' gunna do much es eh?" Indigo asks.

"No…."

"Then les focus on breakin' Eda ougha wherever dey goh er en" 

"Which we don't know yet"

"We just saw on the crystal ball, she's at the conformatorium, she's gonna be petrified" Edric says quietly.

Luz glares at the ground at this, giving a growl "It should be Lillith, not Eda" she murmurs, Indigo puts a hand on her shoulder

"Easeh, prefferebly eh woul' beh nobodeh" they say in return.

Luz takes a breath and nods, but Indigo knew she was still burning with anger towards the Owl Ladys sister.

"Well…" Edric moves his hands up to put up the hood of his cloak.

"No…" Indigo says and moves away.

"Edric grins "I think I know something to help lift the mood" he continues even as Indigo puts a hand at his snout to stop the inevitable.

"Nooo" Indigo continues but it's too late.

Edric, now in wolf bat form, began making soft small and very squeaky barks.

Indigo had to cover their mouth as they immediately started to laugh.

Luz snorts at the noise and tries hard not to laugh, buy Indigo laughing into their hand wasn't helping and soon they were both laughing at Edric's silly barks, which he was clearly relishing in as he kept going right up until Indigo reaches a hand and grabs his snout to prevent further noises.

"Stop stop weh nee' teh breathe" they say between giggle fits, Edric just wags his tail with a proud look on his face, which just made the two giggle more before they all slowly descended from the roof.

-After Breakfast and a quick meeting-

"So that's the plan, we let you three get caught while we work the crowd and sow doubt?" Emira asks and looks at Luz, Amity and Indigo.

"Yes, that way Edric doesn't risk getting hurt again but he can still help us" Luz says.

"Sounds fair enough," Edric says with a nod.

King hops onto Luz's head "I wanna go with you guys" he demands.

"Sorry King, but you're the best speaker we have, if anyone can get that crowd on our side it's you, you know Eda best" Luz reasons.

King thinks it over "Fine! I will use my Kingly address to win over those peasants for Eda's sake!" He says and shakes a little paw in the air before bouncing over to climb onto Edrics head.

"Forward Wolfbat demon boy steed!" He says loudly and Edric snorts 

"I don't even have it on right now" he mutters, but nonetheless heads for the door with Emira, but not before fetching his staff and letting Tolken fly over to sit on Amity's shoulder.

"He'll call the staff if you need to get away" Edric explains and Tolken chirps and nuzzles Amity adoringly, who smiles and pets the birds head gently.

The two groups head off separately, Luz, dawning her new cloak, Amity wearing one they had found and Indigo with her half Jaguwrath disguise.

The three headed into town, Ed and Em had cast an Illusion over Amity so that none of the guards could outright recognise her as a Blight, that could be troublesome if their parents heard of this.

Once in town, Luz looks around, they need an excuse to be arrested, preferably something completely harmless but just frowned upon, she spots a sign and grins, pointing it out and watching Amity roll her eyes while Indigo snorts in amusement.

As a guard walks by, he hears a whistle and glances over, Lux and Amity were standing on the grass, Luz doing some exaggerated movement with her arms and head, Amity just stood with her arms folded while Indigo sat, blatantly munching on a handful of the well trimmed grass.

The guard lets out a squeal of shock and the next thing, they are all in the back of a conformitoroum wagon.

The three sat quietly in the wagon until they reached the conformitorium, where Indigo moved to the window to look around, a statue of two people caught their eye, making their body tense up and their tail lash about quickly as their ears pinned to their head.

Luz got up to see what Indigo was staring at, it was a statue of two witches, based on the description Indigo had given her on them, Luz guessed those were her parents, the two stood, staring definitely ahead of them while holding hands, both wore a long cl9ak with the hood down, the plate below read;

"Ferir Wrath and Sabrė Wrath"

"Thats them?" Luz asks and points, Indigo nods stiffly, Amity moves to have a look as well.

"I don't remember ever hearing about them, not even in history class" 

"I wish we could help them…." Luz says quietly.

"No spell has ever worked against petrification magic" Amity says solemnly 

"I need to get them away from here" Indigo thinks, neither girl is sure if they were even supposed to hear that thought, but they agreed either way.

"If we can, we will," Luz says softly, before noticing a new platform being put forward with Eda's full name on the plaque, growling under her breath.

"First, let's make sure its only one statue we need to carry" Amity says as they get pulled inside "Time to get ready"

Warden Wrath gets the report that Lux has been captured and heads to the wagon in question, starting some weird monologue until he opened the doors, he was knocked away by huge vines, his cohort was tackled by a large abomination, then an ear splitting roar erupts as a jaguwrath leaps from the wagon and pins him to the ground, baring vicious teeth and flexing huge dangerous claws on his shoulders threateningly.

"Where is Eda?!"

-A few moments later-

"You let her escape?! And you drew her a map?!"

Lillith hears the commotion and heads off quickly in search of the intruders.

Luz, Amity and Indigo soon have all the gaurds incapacitated, heading for the latge locked door. Luz freezes the lock and Indigo shatters it with a quick strike of her paw, shaking it afterwards.

Luz glances at the other two "Eda won't be in her right mind right now, you two should stay outside… just in case"

Amity nods, she remembered the creature Eda had become, the owl lady had seemingly lost all control to the beast.

Amity and Indigo stay outside as Lux enters the room, closing the door behind her.

The sound of approaching footsteps and a distinctive set of emotions sets Indigo on edge, making Amity get ready for a fight.

Rounding the corner, Lillith glances in the direction of the door before abruptly ducking back behind the corner as a humanoid jaguwrath vomes bounding at her.

Lillith peeks back around the corner to see the Jaguwrath had paused, utter confusion on their face as they stared at her.

"Yes, yes I know" she mutters and rubs the bridge of her nose.

Indigo shakes their head and backs up towards Amity.

"I...I can't read her properly, something is…. There's so much…. Too much" Indigo thinks to Amity as they sit down and clutches their head.

Amity kneels by Indigo for a moment to check them before turning with burning eyes towards Lillith, who clearly didn't recognise her.

"Look, whoever you are, I am not here to fight you or take you away, I need to get through to Eda, I assume your human accomplice is there too"

"Her name is Luz" Amity barks angrily.

Lillith pauses, that voice is so familiar, yet she cannot place it, probably a strong spell.

"Yes, yes Luz the human I am aware, are you going to let me pass or not?"

"Why so you can toss her off ANOTHER cliff?" Amity demands and summons a large abomination beside her which groans as menacingly as it can.

"Oh for pete's sake, I was never going to LET her fall!" Lillith chides "I just needed Eda to THINK I would, there was no other way to get her to the Emperor's coven and get her healed…. But I was wrong alright! The Emperor won't heal her! I have to get her out of this, it's my fault, I have to fix it!" 

Amity had paused mid command as Lillith began her rant, it didn't even seem like she was talking to Amity anymore.

Indigo had lifted their head to listen as well.

"Then why was it Eda's magic that saved Luz from falling and not yours?" Amity asks skeptically.

Lillith sighs heavily "My sister's final attack sent me flying away, I barely got back in time to get Eda away from the hu… Luz and Amity"

"What about Indigo… keeping her trapped in that bubble in that state" Amity adds.

"I had the child seen by a healer… they said the child was physically healthy, whatever their ailment was I had no way to remedy it or I would have"

Amity pauses once again, glancing at Indigo.

"I do recall someone checking me in the castle, I was barely awake but given context that was probably it" Indigo thinks to her.

Amity feels some of her anger begin to simmer down, but she was far from calm still.

"This could all be a rousse to stop us and trap us" Amity says defiantly.

"Yes it could be… I can see why that is the conclusion you would come to, so its safe to assume you won't let me through unhindered?" 

Indigo stands and growls in reply as Amity readies her abomination.

"Then I apologise in advance for this" Lillith says as her form disappears in a puff of smoke and the back of the girls heads are given a small strike to render them unconscious, magic catches them and gently lowers them to the ground.

Lilliyh enters the room to see Luz on the ground sobbing, the cage with Eda is gone.

"Drat I'm too late, but at least I found you human" Lillith looks down at the girl as she gets up and turns, speaking slowly before launching at Lillith while slapping paper together like before to create a lightn8ng effect which blasts against the shield Lillith was barely able to conjure.

"Stop! I just want to talk!" Lillith states but it falls on desf ears.

"Talk to the glyph WITCH!"

Though the word witch was technically correc5, Lillith got the feeling it was meant as an insult somehow, she then experienced the human girl launching at her, pulling her hair and biting her, Lillith stumbles back in a confused manner, ending up tumbling through the human world portal.

The human rolls away as they tumble and tries one of her fire spells, resulting in the paper simply crumpling away, she looked surprised, but Lillith took this chance to pin her down in an attempt to capm her.

"Just listen to me!" Lillith says in axasperation.

"No! You hurt Eda, you tried to KILL me! You almost made Amity fall with me! It should be you getting pertified!" Luz yells at the top of her lungs.

Lillith sighs loudly and lets her go "You are right, it should be me, thats why I want to fix this…. I was the one who cursed Eda… I thought it would only last for a day… she said…. No… I've no one to blame but myself for this, please… let me try to fix this, then you can condemn me to whatever punishment you see fit, I just want my sister to be safe, even if I must leave the Emperors coven to do it! This place…. It isnt made for justice, it was made to make others obey… I stayed so that one day I might get help to cure Eda but… he won't do it, so I must do it myself!" Lillity speaks with conviction.

Luz took all of this in, the moment Lillith had confessed to cursing Eda she had opened her mouth, before closing it as she continued, her eyes still burned, but by the end it was hard to keep them pinned on Lillith, if she wanted out of the Emperors coven… she wanted to help Eda… then there wasnt much point fighting her.

"How do I know I can trust you?" 

Lillith blinks before summoning Owlbert and Eda's staff, handing them to Luz

"I was ordered to destroy them… I would never do that to Edalyn" 

Lux accepts Oelbert and cuddles him as he coos before standing to speak.

"Alright Lillith, I domt like your whole" she circles a finger at Lilloth "Deal… but if you want to help Eda then… I won't stop you"

Lillith smiles and nods "I understand your hesitation, I certainly wouldnt turn my back to someone who pretended to toss me off a bridge either"

"Pretended? You DIR throw me off a brudge!"

"I had every intention to catch you if it went wrong! The only reason I couldnt was Edalyn's final spell knocking me away! I may seem ruthless… but I'm not a monster!" Lillith says and stands before sighing "I am sorry to have used you like that and… for the fiasco at the school, the Emperor… was losing patience, if I didn't hand her in… well, your eish would have been granted…" Lillith says before turning to head to the portal door.

Luz felt her hardened expression soften to shock at that last whispered line, she doubted she was even meant to hear it, but the cat ears on her hood seemed to amplify everything.

Luz was by no means ready to forgive Lillith but… all of this new information began outying a few pieces tohether for her, just a few, she would expect more answers of the taller witch when this was all over.

Luz glances behind her at the path leading to her ordinary human life, she blinks, before turning to the portal and walking back through it, only to find Lillith fending off Amity and Indigo, the woman was in a corner, sheilding herself and trying to talk the two down as Indigo and Amity battered her sheild with either claws or Abomination hands.

"Guys! Stop! Shes helping us!" Luz says and makes the two look over at her.

The two look over, both immediately looked relieved and bolted over to check her over.

Once the two were sure Luz was u harmed their glares went bsck to Lillith.

"Guys… Lillith explained things to me, important things… for now, she can come with us, we need to rescue Eda now" Luz says and looks at the woman as the two younger witches semi stand down.

"Where can we get up to the stage?"

Lillith points and leads the way, staff ready for any gaurds that may block their path.

Luz, Amity and Indigo follow behind, wary but trusting the older witch for now.

"You can get up from this platform, come along" Lilloth say and moves to syand on it, but pauses "Wait, why are there no gaurds…."

Two strong flesh like vines shoot from the floor and grab both Lillith and Amity, drsgging them into the air.

"Ah Lillith, such an unexpected betrayal" came the smooth but intimidating voice of the Emperor as he was lit up on some kind of throne.

Indigo acts immediately, launching forward to strike the fleshy thing holding Amity, but the moment they got remotely close to the Emperor, they gasp as if all the air had left their body and slump forward, gasping desperately.

Luz runs to Indigo but their form is grabbed by another flesh hand and dragged towards the Emperor, they struggle harshly and gasp for air.

"My, my, my, I dony think Ive seen anoyher Empath since the last one, no doubt you are feeling my ailement, it hurts doesnt it? I could make it all go away you know" the Emperor offers, before dodging to the side as a leg kicks out at him.

"As you wish" he says and moves a hand, the flesh hand tosses Indigo back towards Luz, who was approaching fast, Luz uses a plant glyph to caytch Indigo and at the same time prepell herself at the Emperor with a fire glyph in hand.

The Emperor makes a motion that sends Amity and Lillith upwards before disappearing as Luz uses the fire glyph, sending flames jetting harmlessly at the empty throne.

Luz stares at the spot for a moment before she hears the Emperor speak behind her.

"Alright, I'll play" 

Tye next thing Luz knew, she was sent rushing at a statue, hitting it and having to run as tye axe it was hplding falls towards her, dodging and blasting different attacks from all sides before ascending on Owlbert and flying towards the Emperor, who pulls Indigo in front of him by a flesh hand, Luz stops in mid air and halts her attwmpt at fire magic.

"Now we can do this the easy way human, or we can do this the painful way"

The flesh hand brings Indigo right up to the Emperor who reaches out a hand to tounch Indigo who visibly tenses, if they werent gasping for air, no doubt they woyld probably have screamed, the way they writhed it was clear his touch brought them physical pain.

"Stop! What do you want!" Luz demands as she dismounts Oelbert and syeps forward.

The Emperor stops and moves Indigo to his right side.

"I want the portal to the human realm, give it to me and I shall spare your friend further suffering, I shall even let you rescue your dear Eda as well, but I would advise you think swiftly, I doubt either will lasyt much longer"

As the Emperor finishes speaking a paw came shooting out at him, dlashing the side of his mask and leaving four long gashes in it.

The Emperor growls in an odd almost animalistic manner, Indigo is released and they scrabble desperately towards Luz.

Luz jolts forward as the Emperor turns, hand extended, she flings a glyph at tye groynd in fromt of him and in ice spike hits him right in yhe eye, making hin growl again and turn to cover his noe cracked eye, before turning, one eye blaring a light blue colour.

"I admire your spirits but try that again and things won't end so well for either of you" he grumbles and stands tall.

"Now, you have your friend back, but you still need me to let you get to Eda before she is petrified, so hand over the portal to the human realm, now" he says and turns waiting.

"Fear not though, We dp not wish to invade or harm tye residents of this realm, the Titans will is not so borish as that"

Indigo looks at Luz, the poor girl was feeling so torn, Indigo could only wstch as Luz summoned the portal and hugged it to her vhest, saying words Indigo didnt recognise, before the Emperor turns and she hands it to hi., before turning and helping Indigo over to the platform.

"Good choice, now off you go, go be a hero" he says in a rather condecendinf way, Indigo managed to stand and growl, admiring yhe slash they left in his mask

Luz turns her head "I may have lost…" she whips around with staff in hand "But so have you" then slams it to the ground as Owlberts wooden eyes glow and yhe fire glyphs attached to the portal glow and activate, causing it to explode and fall like burnt confette to the ground.

Indigo grins as The Emperor glares with his one glowing eye (Megalovania intensifies) 

Tye platform ascends to a large platform over a crowd, who have seemingly been chanting "Let Eda Go!" At the front stood a wolfbat boy, a cloaked girl and King, stood between their shoulders, leading the chant with such vigor that eveb Luz wanted to join in, in the crowd she could already spot Willow and Gus, as well as many other familiar faces.

Luz spots the statue beaming at Eda and throws a plamnt glyph to stop it, seeing Eda covering both Lillith and Amity in the cage.

Lillith imemdiately begins helping Eda fight the petrification as Luz and Indigo approqch Kikimora, Indigo roars threateningly as Luz growls "Release them Now!" A fire glyph ready in her hands.

Kikimora was no fool, she was outnumbered and cornered, she undoes the cage and steps away.

Luz runs over to Eda to inspect her for injuries, a group of coven guards comes to surround them, Indigo launches at them and begins brawling with a few, causing others to break rank to help their comrades, Eda gets Luz, Lillith and Amity on her back, looking at Indigo, who breaks froee of the group and literally yeets herself off the platform to the ground below, landing beside the wolfbat kid, who promtly joins yhem in running after scooping King into his arms, the cloaked girl follows as well.

Eda watches them run before taking off after them, narrowing avoid8ng a showering of magical spears.

"Eda, do you think you can carry that statue?" Luz asks urgenrly and points to a statue of two people.

"Ill try but no promises" Eda growls and dives, grabbing it on their way past, barely able to kwep it off the ground as they flew mere metres off of it due to all the weight.

A second pair of hands joins Eda"s, Ed was im the air, taking some of the weight and allowing them to fly higher and faster.

"Thanks Kid" Eda grumbles as they set the statue down outside the owl house and she promptly colapses on the ground, Ed joins her, groaning quietly and curling up a bit still in his wolfbat form

"No probs" he breathes.

The three on Eda's back had been rsther unceramoniously dimped onto the ground, now Luz was beside Eda as Amity watched Lillith with wary eyes.

Lillith kept back, worried about Eda but also worried that the kids would turn against her if she moved too quickly towards her.

A roar sounds and Indigo bursts into view, Emira and King on thier bsck, given they had gone to their full Jaguwrath form.

Indigo skids to a stop near the statue, but not too near, they look at it like it may attack them at any second.

King bounds off Indigo and runs towards Eda.

Emira is quick yo also dismount and goes to check on Ed.

The area turned into a chaos of concetned voices and worried feelings.

Lillith tries to tentatively approach her sister, earlier Amity had stopped Eda from ripping her apart, explaining what Lillith had admitted which was confirmed by Indigo, this had somewhat calmed Eda's rage enough for them to speak for a moment before the statue had begun its firing.

Once Lillith was close enough, she leant down.

"Eda, I need to speak to you if I may?"

Eda looked irate, but nods once.

"I know… you will most likely never fprgive me for this… but I wanted to tell you this for a long time… I was just… too much of a coward to say it unless I knew I could actually fix it, The Emperor promised he would undo your curse… the curse I inflicted upon you…"

Eda's eyes grew rapidly for a moment but Lillith continued on.

"I thought… I was told it would only be for a day… Im sure you can remember which one… it wss selfish and naive of me, I deserved whatever you planned to inflict upon mw earlier, for all the pain and misery this has caused you, for what I have caused you, always trying to hunt you down… I was desperate to fix it! But now theres only one thing I can do to even try to make amends for this…" 

Lillith takes Eda's cheeks in her hands and leans their forehead together.

"With the spell declared, let the pain be shared"

With a flash the two witches roase to the air, Eda's form shrank down to its normal form, Lilliths did not change in size or shape, but once the two landed again, it was clear things had changed, one of Eda's eyes was grey as well as one of Lilliths and Lillith now sported a grey streak in her hair, Eda's gem was also notably still completely black.

All thise watching looked at the two in awe.

Eda looks down at herself with a smile.

"Hah, I missed having hands" she says and flexes them.

"Can you still do magic?" Luz asks.

Eda attempts a spell circle, but it simply crumbles away.

"Well thats a no"

"I feel as if my power has also been weakened" Lillith adds, looking at her hands 

"Well I can teach you what I know and what I dont know we can learn together" Luz says and hands Eda a light glyph, which she taps and smiles as the small ball of light floats up into the sky.

As the small group watches the orb ride, no one really sees Indigo approach the statue of their parents, reaching forward to touch something on one of their hands before jolting back witha yell of surprise as loud crackling noises rung around the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am Evil Mwahaha, cliff hangers, cliff hangers everywhere!.


	17. Update and a Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not a chapter but I wanna ask yall something

I'm sorry to give false hope of a chapter, I appreciate you all being patient but this one is gonna take quite a while, the stuff im planning for this one is extensive since Im not going by canon plot anymore plus work and home stuff keeping me busy buuuut I wanted to ask if yall would like a drabble series perhaps, like short stories where yall can give me a prompt for these guys of things that havent happened but could have happened till now.

These will be shorter and come out more regularly and nost will be canonical to the fic itself.

If your interested, leave me a comment with a prompt and yeh never know, you might just get it before the day is done.

Any of the established pairings are up for grabs, if you want info on Emira and Vineys "not date" or one of the '"secret Azura book club" meetings that may have taken place, all ya gotta do is ask


	18. Deviation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deviating from the path.

All eyes turn to the statue as Indigo bolts away from it and hid behind Eda as the hand they touched began to crackle with magic, a glyph of some kind seems to have been drawn on the stone itself, but as it glowed outwards, it was replaced by skin while the sounds of crackling stone accompanied the transformation, slowly it moved up the person's arm till it got to their shoulder and the arm fell limp, slowly moving up the neck and to the head, once the head of the person was completely normal, they let out a breath and took several deep ones before coughing and letting their head fall forward, their red hair hung around their face and shoulder as the rest of their body slowly returned to normal, passing to the next person through their held hands.

Once the two were completely freed, they felt forward to the ground, both still clearly recovering from the shock and trauma of being statues for who knew how long.

Eda takes a good long look at the two witches, she wasnt quite sure if she remembered ever seeing them before, but what she did know was that they looked like the people on that wanted poster that Edric had used for those glyphs from Indigo's parents, which meant these probably were the kids parents.

Eda looks back at Indigo, who stays firmly against Eda's back, the kid was acting like these people were a threat, but then, they didn't know these people at all.

Eda stands straighter as the two start to stand, their little group had moved so most of them were either behind Eda and Indigo or beside them.

Edric was on his feet again, mostly supported by Emira, standing by Indigo as they watched the two people rise to their feet, taking in the scene before them with shaky eyes and confused faces.

"This is…. Different from what I remember" the blue haired one spoke first.

"Noh ah the conformatorium neh more" the red haired one adds.

"And a whole lot of people staring at us" the blue one adds as they take in the group before them.

Lilloth narrowd her eyes for a moment.

"I know you two" she says "The Wrath couple…"

The two look at Lillith and freeze up, immediatley taking defensive stances.

"I'm not going to be turned back to stone" the red one growls angrily and reaches for their hood while the other reaches for the scarf below their chin.

Indigo and Edric were the only ones to realise what exactly was about to happen, both sprang forward, still in their half beast forms and growled at the other pair.

Indigo was standing with her arms stretched out, claws out and snarling, while Edric had to support himself with one arm on the ground, his wings detached from his wrists and spread out threateningly.

The two older witches hesitated, observing the two in front of them as they covered the group with their outstretched arms and wings, showing these people were under their protection.

"Ferir…."

"I know Sabrė… I know… it had to be one of them, no one else could've gotten those glyphs…"

Eda walks forward and in front of the two growling kids.

"Alright previously turned to stone people, While I admire you for fighting the Emperor and getting turned to stone, I can't let you attack my sister, now, what I think we all need is a little context right?"

The pair stare at Eda warily, but the blue haired one named Sabrė nods.

"Context would be useful yes"

"Well then let's start with introductions, I'm Eda the Owl lady"

"That name is familiar" 

"Oh good, you have heard of me, well, then you might also know my sister Lillith, formally of the Emperors coven"

"Formalleh?" Ferir asks.

"Yeah, formally, so don't worry she aint gonna capture you and turn you back into statues, she's on our side now"

The two stare at Eda and glance at each other, before slowly relaxing their defensive postures.

"Now, you two just got released by Indigo, our little telepathic empath cat thing here" Eda says and pats Indigo's head, who looks up at her with a raised brow.

"Oh fine, "Jaguwrath" Eda puts her fingers in air quotes.

Both the other two perk up immediately.

"Wait… you released us? You're telepathic… and empathic?" Sabrė asks quickly and steps forward, making Indigo's head snap forward and growl in uncertaintly.

"Easy Sabrė, they aren't sure of us still" Ferir says and pulls the other back again.

Indigo narrows their eyes "How do you know that?" They ask into the others mind

"Because I can read you, just as you can read us and everyone else here" Ferir answers quietly in Indigo's mind in return.

"Slow down there buddy" Eda says as Indigo growls defensively. 

The Wrath couple look at each other wirh uncertainly.

"They are responding rather oddly" Sabrė says quietly.

"Well how would you respond rationally to your folks just appearing in your life after 17 years?" Eda asks.

The two look at each other for a long moment 

"17 years? It's been that long?" Ferir asks.

"Well you left this one as a babe right? So given their questimate of how old they are, that seems to be it yeah" Eda says as normally as anything.

"We did not leave them!" Sabrė snaps and Ferir has to stop them stepping forward again.

"Easeh, easeh" the red haired witch soothes "Theh don' know the storeh, theh wouln' know anythin'" Ferir's accent slips to their calmer, more relaxed tone and Sabrė takes a calming breath before continuing.

"We did not leave them, not willingly, we had left our palismens in the care of the Bat Queen, but on our way back we were ambushed…" Sabrė's eyes locked on Lillith "By that one"

Lillith closes her eyes and nods "The Wrath couple had been on the wanted list for some time, I was still low amongst the Emperor's coven ranks and saw an oppertunity to change that, I took it, I did not know the consequences of this action until it was too late…. At most I thought they would be forced to join a coven…. It was the first time I witnessed the Emperor's covens ruthlessness"

The Wrath Couples ears twitch, their eyes didn't seem too convinced but they didnt attempt to continue this line of conversation.

Ferir turns back to Indigo "The cave took care o' yeh?" They ask.

Indigo's feline ears flatten to their head "Yes it did, the darkness kept me safe"

"Ah, good, we knew we might get captured one day, we cast that spell to keep you safe until we returned…" Sabrė starts to say in relief.

"But you didn't" Indigo finishes for them, making them wince.

"Hey, c'mon now, cut em some slack here kid" Eda says and elbows Indigo, who glances up at her, eyes conflicted.

"I don't know them" Indigo replies and Eda nods.

"I know that, but you didn't know Luz or Amity, you let them in pretty quick, what's stopping you now?" She asks.

By now Edric had backed off, most of the group had in fact, apart from Lillith, everyone else had kind of moved away to give them their privacy.

"That was different…" Indigo says, their clawed hands clinging to their fuzzy arms.

"Can you tell me how?" Eda asks.

"I felt safe, I didn't have… weird feelings that I didn't understand with those two, I don't even know how to describe what these feelings are… but they dont feel good" 

Eda pats the kids shoulder before glancing at the Wraths.

"Maybe they know, you could ask them" she encourages.

Indigo's ear twitches and their eyes flicker from Eda to the Wraths and back again.

"I don't…know if I can…"

Eda looks at the Wraths for a moment.

"I think… Indigo needs some time to think all this through"

"Why do you call them Indigo? They have a name" Sabrė says quietly.

"My name IS Indigo" Indigo retorts and Sabrė remains silent, they look a little abashed.

"Look, the kid is clearly not ready for you guys yet… You got anywhere you can go, all I can offer is a couch right now" Eda says.

"We will go to our cave" Sabrė responds "May we return tomorrow?" they ask.

"Mmm you okay with that?" Eda asks Indigo, who, very hesitantly, nods.

The atmosphere inside the Owl House was tense, no one was sure what to think right then.

The door opens and Indigo walks in with Eda and Lillith behind them, they head for the stairs immediately and after a moment the click of a door is heard.

Eda rubs her neck after watching the poor confused kid ascend the steps.

"Well this is a pile of emotions that no one should really have to deal with isnt it?" She asks and the room remains silent, Eda looks at all those present, noticing Edric sitting stiff and walking over, poking his ribs.

"Aaaaahahaow!" Was the response, as well as both Blight girls telling her to stop that.

"You dummy why did you go liftin' that thing with bruised ribs?! Hang on, I can whip something up to ease the pain, at least I can still make potions" Eda says.

"Hey Lilly gimme a hand wouldja?"

Lillith awkwardly walks through the room of children to help Eda in the kitchen

Luz was looking at the ceiling, eyes empathetic.

"I'm gonna go talk to Indigo, maybe I can help" she reasons and stands up.

"I'll come too" Edric says and tries to stand but gets sat on by Amity, raising a brow but getting a scolding look from both sisters.

"Oh no you don't mister, you hurt yourself so much more already, you can wait for Eda's potion" Emira says and pinches one of his ears, making him flatten it to his head.

"But they need…" he gets cut off as Amity grabs his snout 

"What they need is you at your best so they don't have to deal with you in pain worrying them alongside everything else" Amity says and lets go of his snout again.

Edric sighs and his ears fall to the sides of his head sadly, resigned to wait.

Luz was already up the stairs, pausing at Indigo's door, unsure if she should knock or not, it would be polite to knock.

Luz lifts a clenched hand but before she even touches the door a soft "You can come in Luz" rings into her mind.

Luz opens the door slowly and spots Indigo, back to their normal selves, sitting cross legged on their new chair, head hung forward and eyes closed in thought.

Luz trots over and promptly flings her arms around the other in a tight hug.

"Parents huh?"

"Yeh…."

And for a long while that's all the two said, Luz just content to hug her friend and Indigo content to have someone hold them while they thought things over.

Indigo lifts their head a bit after an hour.

"Come in" they call softly.

Luz lets go to see Edric coming in, normal again.

"Hey there, Eda finally got me that potion so I'm now allowed to get off the couch" he says rather loudly and two very distinct voices reply from downstairs.

"Heh, well you did lift a stone statue with bruised ribs Ed" Luz says and punches his arm lightly as he walks by.

Ed bats at her in return and misses on purpose, snickering with her for a moment.

"Soooo, are you two a thing now?" Luz asks and points between them.

Indigo tilts their head in confusion as Ed's face goes red.

"What? Uh wha...what gave you that impression?" He asks quickly, trying to play off his embarassment but failing miserably.

Luz gives him a smug look.

"Please I can tell when someone has a crush on someone else"

Indigo snorts loudly and has to turn away, almost cackling into their hand.

"What?!" Luz demands and Indigo can only wheeze in response

"What I think they are trying to say is…." Edric pauses as Indigo giggles loudly before silencing themselves with both hands as they look at Luz in absolute amusement before looking st Ed apologetically "That you can sometimes miss certain people being very obvious around you sometimes" 

"Like when?" Luz asks, less annoyed but still fake glaring at Indigo whenever they giggle

"Oh… uh…. Well it wouldn't be fair of me to say who now would it? You'll just have to pay closer attention clearly" Edric says with a half grin.

Luz huffs but is pulled into a full hug by Indigo and tickled until shes laughing.

"Okay okay fine you're off the hook stop!" Luz says as Indigo lets go with a grin.

"Hooo, thah helped a loh, thanks guys" Indigo says and Luz beams in glee

"No problem, are… are they coming back again?" Luz asks and Indigo gets a bit more serious.

"Tomorroh, Ah… am noh sure how teh… how teh act around em, theh don' knoh meh an' ah don' noh them"

"Well what's the best thing to do when you meet someone for the first time?" Edric asks.

"....Introduce mehsel'?" Indigo answers questioningly

"Yes!" Luz says "We can all introduce ourselves to your parents!" Luz says "Then you won't be the only one!" 

Indigo feels a soft smile smooth out their features as the two in front of them high five at their seemingly coordinated idea.

"Thah… sounds like a good idea" Indigo says and nods.

"Yeah! I'm gonna go tell everyone!" Luz says and runs off downstairs.

Edric chuckles as he watches Luz run off in excitement.

"Amity would have killed you if she saw your reaction there y'know" Edric says with a smirk and Indigo snickers.

"Ah didn' say anythin'" Indigo defends through giggles "Buh realleh can yeh blame meh?" They ask.

"Nah not really, but she might anyways if Luz tells her about your reaction"

"Good poin'" Indigo says and tries to cease their laughter.

"So… is this your room now?" Edric asks as he looks around it.

"Yeh, still go'ah thank Eda fer eh" Indigo says "Deh chair is comfeh" they say and lay against the back happily.

"She got you a chair and no bed?"

"Ah don' like beds, eh don feel righ to lay on meh back like thah fer so long while am asleep" Indigo says.

"Heh alright fair enough, considering you always slept on your feet in the cave that would make sense" Edric consceeds with a shrug as he walks over.

"The'hs also thah thing fer o'her people" Indigo says and points to the footstool.

Edric snorts "Yeah I think I'll stand"

"How yer ribs doin'?" 

"Better after that potion, Eda says it'll keep the pain away for a good while, I just need to avoid lifting statues and flying bubble first into trees for a while" he adds with a snort which Indigo echos.

"Yeh lehs noh do thah again please" 

"I make no pomises"

"Ed"

"No. Promises."

"Hey guys! Eda says you two should come down here, she wants to talk to you!" Luz yells from the staircase.

"Oh no… don't tell me Luz told them" Edrix says and covers his fsce.

"Ah feel a loh of suprise down der, ah think she did, is thah bad?" 

"Not really just…"

"Embarassin'?"

"Kinda? Not because it's you but…"

"'Cuz yeh weren' readeh teh tell em yeh?" 

"Yeah…"

"Ah mean weh haven' realleh said whah we are yeh so…"

"Hmm, true, we probably should talk about that shouldnt we?"

"Noh or la'er?"

"Later, we should go clear things up downstairs" 

The two descend to the living room and see everyone immediately look their way.

"Whah?" Indigo asks as they step into the room

"I can't believe you two didn't tell us!" Emira demands

"Tell you what?" Edric asks quickly.

"That you finally told them" Amity continues.

"Ooooh that… yeah with all the saving of Eda we didn't really think it was a good time?" Edric tries.

"Nice try" Luz says "The way you handled the stuff on the roof, there is no way you couldn't have added that nugget of information" Luz says with folded arms.

"I…" Edric looks at Indigo "help me" he murmurs.

"Uh…. Ah have neh idea whah teh say" Indigo says honestly.

"Look, I was going to tell you after we saved Eda" Edric says.

"Well now I'm saved, so spill the beans" Eda says and leans against the doorframe.

"What?"

"Cmon, tell us the details" Eda says smugly.

"No way" 

"Ah c'mon I wasn't here to snoop, ya gotta fill me in!" Eda complains and slings an arm over Edric's shoulder, before giving him a noogie.

"Ahhh, Indie help me!"

Indigo stood still and looked confused.

"How?"

"I don't know! Do something!"

Indigo looks around and then at Eda.

"Uh… Ah'm gunna book eh" they say with a grin before bolting out the front door, in her surprise Eda lets go and Edric also books out out the door, the two laugh hysterically as they run.

"Hey! Get back here!" Eda yells "Hooty grab them!"

"No way! That wierdo tries to eat me if i go near them! Hoot!" Hooty argues and by the time he's finished speaking they are in the woods and out of sight.

"Dangit, I wanted to know the details" Eda whines.

"Honestly Edalyn you need to act more your age" Lillith says as she walks in with a cup up tea, sipping it.

Eda simply blows a raspberry at Lillith who twitches an eyebrow in annoyance.

Edric and Indigo laugh as they check they aren't being followed by Hooty.

"Haha, I can't believe that worked" Edric says in amusement.

"Ahm vereh good ah ge'in people's attention" Indigo says with a proud grin.

"Pfft alright then, so what do we do now?" Edric asks "If we go back we're gonna get asked for the details again"

"Well, weh coul' decide whah wey actually are?" Indigo asks with a shrug "Luz though' wey were a "thing" earlier, whah does thah actualleh mean?"

"Usually like a couple or at least dating, I believe" Edric replies as they just start walking along the cliffside on tye other side of the trees.

"Do you want thah?" Indigo asks and looks at Edric.

"I…. Yes but… I feel like there would be a couple of roadblocks to that, specifically my mother and father, you've seen my father before but… you used his curiosity to get to his good side, my mother won't be so easy to sway… and my father won't go against my mother's wishes"

Indigo's ears twitch at that "Hmm, thah ehs a valid poin' why deh paren's have teh beh so complica'ed?" They ask quietly.

"Do… um… do you…?" Edric tries softly

"Yeh"

Edric assumed they were trying to coax him to finish his sentence and continues.

"Do you want… to be…"

"Ah said yes Ed"

Edric blinks and feels his ears heat up as they flick up and down, hiding his face with his hands as Indigo immediately starts to giggle

"Shuddup!"

"Ah'm sorreh ah'm sorreh but ehs so cuuuute" Indigo says between giggles of glee.

Edric lifts the hood of his cloak over his head, forgetting its function and turning into his half wolfbat form, his ears wiggle even more now and he grabs them and pulls them over his face, or as much of it as they will cover.

Indigo can't handle it anymore and leans against a tree, laughing hysterically.

Edric can't help grinning, he knows Indigo is just having fun and not mocking him, he lets his ears go, they flick back into place before wiggling again as he sits by Indigo, who is at least trying to stop giggling now.

Back at the Owl house, things were calming down, until Emira got a text from their mother, Emira reads it and pales.

"Oh no…" she murmurs and looks at Amity "Mom knows…"

Amity felt her body freeze up

"Knows wh-what?" She asks quietly, trying not to alert the others yet.

"My Illusions weren't enough, she saw both of us on the crystal ball…."

Amity felt her heart drop to the floor and her ears pressed against her head.

Luz immediately saw the shift in the two girls and walked over.

"Amity what's wrong?" She asks softly.

"Our mother saw us helping to rescue Eda" Amity says quietly, eyes looking far off.

"She wants us home right now" Emira says as another text comes through.

Amity felt dread hit her like a cold lump of steel falling into her stomach.

"What's all the frowning about?" Eda asks as she walks over, noticing Luz looking utterly distraught as the Blight kids seemed shell shocked.

"Amity's mom knows she and Emira helped to free you" Luz says in a small voice.

Eda frowned "Well that's not good, Lillith get your staff, we might have to beat up some parents!" Eda calls back into the k8tchen.

Amity and Emira look up in total panic.

"What?!

"Well I'm sure as heck not letting some prim and proper lady punish you girls on my behalf" Eda says and summons her staff as Lillith walks in, staff in hand, but looking confused 

"Did you say parents?" Lillith asks.

"Yup!" Eda says enthusiastically.

"Edalyn, you lost you magic, mine is severely weakened, I doubt even both of us are a match for… wait whose parents?"

"Theirs" Eda points at the Blights, both girls seemed startled.

"Why on earth would we…?"

"Because they know these kids helped save me, besides THEY dont know we don't have magic anymore" Eda says smugly.

Lillith sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose "As much as it pains me to admit it, that is a valid point, they will assume you are still an Owl beast, seeing your normal form might make them think you cured it…" this brought an unexpected smile to Lillith's face.

"Aaaaah there she is, cmon, let's get this show on the road!" Eda says but pauses when Amity stands up.

"What exactly are you two planning to do?" She asks in a quiet voice, she seemed very stressed out by this whole situation

"Relax kid, we are simply gonna make it clear that you two" she indicated Amity and Emira "Are under our protection now"

Amity and Emira both looked stunned.

"I don't think that will change anything,, mother is very…"

"Amity dear, your mother is a very manipulative and cunning woman, but she also knows when to surrender, it's just not likely you got to witness such a rarity, but now seems as good a time as any" Lillith says and offers Amity a hand "She will not punish you, nor your sister, while the two of us have anything to say about it"

The way Lillith spoke made Amity think she had witnessed Amity's mother surrender before, which gave her some hope that this completely unfathomable idea might hold some possibility of working.

Emira had already stood up and Eda was ruffling her hair, before slinging an arm around her shoulder, Emira was smiling at the affection Eda was showing her, Eda had always been rather supportive of the twins, often conplimenting their magic skills or pranks.

Amity looks back at Lilith once again, she hadn't felt completely comfortable around the older witch ever since she had made Amity cheat against Luz unknowingly, but now, seeing her look at Amity with new eyes, almost freed eyes, it felt, like something she could try to do at the very least.

Amity reaches out a hand and takes Lilliths, the woman guides Amity outside, Eda had Emira in a friendly headlock as they followed, playing around with the young witches hair.

"Alright Amity you ride with Lilly, Ill take Emmy here" Eda says after giving Emira a brief noogie, which made Emira squeak and duck away 

"Noo, you're gonna make it wooorse" she complains 

"Oh hush" Eda laughs and taps her staff so Owlbert spread his winfs, ready to fly.

Lillith did the same with her staff, the ravens wings spread and she mounted it, waiting for Amity, who climbed on behind her tentatively.

The four were off towards Blight manor and once the estate was in view, both Blight girls grew tense.

Landing before the gates, Eda snickers at all the decor and glamour

"Oooh loook, a griffon! How exotic" she snickers as they walk through the gates.

Emira had to hold back a snicker at that.

The four wtiches headed for the doors, which opened fairly quickly to reveal Aladar waiting for them, eyebrows raised high when he saw the Clawthorne sisters escorting his daughters to the door, summoning his staff, topped bya large snake palisman.

"What do you think you are doing with my daughters? And where is our son!" He barks angrily.

Eda smirks "Oh hush it, your daughters are fine, I owe these two a favour, and that favour is being returned right now" she says and pulls the two girls back a step as her and Lilllith step in front of them.

"Indeed, these children have been suffering in silence for far too long Aladar"

"Suffering in si…. They are Blights! They are stronger than suffering! And you still havent told me where my son is!" Aladar retorts.

"I dont know where your son is Aladar, probably off actually having fun being around people who give a damn about how he FEELS, y'know, not making him repress everything to look strong for some stupid family name, not chiding him if he cries or does anything else you weirdos consider "weak" " Eda says sharply and for once, Aladar isnt so quick to yell back.

Aladar is staring, hard, at both the Clawthorne sisters 

"What is this favour you claim to be completing?" He asks in a more level tone, but he is clearly still aggitated.

"We are here because they got called back here, your wife knows they helped us escape"

Aladars eyes widen a bit at that.

"Mother didnt tell him…" Emira ehispers quietly.

"Typical Odalia, lemme guess, she just said she wished to talk with her daughters?" Lillith asks.

Aladars eyes narrow again and he nods.

"And what do you imagine she might do to them?" 

"Discipline them? Probably restrict their curfew, ground them? Forbid them from going near wanted criminals!" Aladar says, the way he said it made it sound like a reasonable thing to say, which Eda admitted it was, but then again, she never really cared for being reasonable and she knew for a fact Odalia was never reasonable.

"Well thats too bad, we aint letting these girls out of our sight yet, so you better call her out here so we can talk" 

Aladar opens his mouth but when Lilloth steps forward and plants her staff on the ground with a reasonding "Now Aladar!" He closed it, glared for a moment, before moving inside the house as the doors closed behind him.

"Oooh look whose using her Coven leader voice for dasterdly purposes?" Eda says and elbows Lillith lightly.

Lillith grunts and pushes her away slightly "He clearly bows to strong women a lot, I'm simply using that to get him to listen"

Eda snickers "surrre you are"

After another moment, the doors reopened and out stepped Odalia, Aladar behind her, looling annoyed.

"So… you daughters have been dragged into some kind of cult it seems" 

"Oh how you flatter us Odie" Eda snickers while Lillith rolls her eyes.

"Oh please Odalia, we both know my sister couldn't organise a cult, she cant even be bothered to brush her hair, let alone keep a horde of children in line" Lillith says and Eda just cackles as Amoty and Emira dhare a look.

Odalia raises a brow before walking down the stairs.

"Children, come here" Odalia says and beckons her daughters over.

Neither Emiea nor Amity made any move to join their moyher, well aware that they would immediately be pulled inside for titan knows what kind of punishment.

Odalia narrows her eyes "Now, girls.."

"Ah shut your yap woman, these girls know better than to just waltz up to you and let you drag them on in there, WE" Eda indicated herself and Lilliyh "Are here to ensure your callus treatment ends"

Odalia snoets "And just how, pre-tell, do you propose to stop my right to parent my own children?"

"That, Odalia is the simple part" Lillith says with a small smile "Just imagine, word gets out that your lovely daughters helped stage an escape for a prisoner of the Emperor, just imagine the reaction of your peers, I may not be the chatty type but…. My sister can certainly attract a crowd" 

Odalia visibly teitches her eye several times, probably restraining a loud and very rude retort.

Amity and Emirs could see the wheels turning in their mothers head.

"Well, I can see when I am at a disadvantage…." Odalia admits, clearly very begrudgingly "What do you want?" 

"These kids get their freedom, including their brother, they can choose what to wear, where to go and who to be friends with… and… what colour their hair should be" Lillith says simply and puts a hand on Amity's shoulder very pointedly.

Amity turns to look at Lillith, who looks down at her with a knowing smile, though there was still a little distrust… Amity felt that Lillith really was trying.

Odalia looks entirely disgruntled but Eda added something that made her glare.

"And we will know, if you try to break any of these conditions, we spread the word that the Blight kids are with US"

Odalia snorts and nods once "So be it" she practically growls and turns to head back inside.

Aladar hesitated to follow her, when Lillith had mentionedq hair, he looked very distinctly at Amity, as if questioning her with only his eyes, Amity looks back and nods once.

Aladar's hands balled into fists for a moment, but he simply walked inside the manor.

"Wow… that actually worked?" Emira asks under her breath, but naturally Eda heard her.

"Hey!" She says and headlocks the older Blight girl and noogies her, making her squeal "How dare you doubt the skill and cunning of the Owl ladies!" 

"Ugh, stop calling us that" Lillith groans in annoyance.

Eda lets go of Emira to snicker "well you got half my curse, so you sre also and owl lady now, no take backies Lilly!"

Lillith rolls her eyes begrudgingly.

As the small group flew back, Eda and Emira were having a loud discussion about going to the market and getting Emira some new "duds" as Eda called them.

Amity remained quiet until Lillith spoke quietly.

"If you'd like, I am quite proficient in hair dying, I could help return your hair to its natural colour once more" 

Amity's ear twitches "I will…. Keep that in mind" she says softly.

Lillith nods, she was well aware that the kids didn't quite trust her still, there was no reason to dwell on it though, that wouldnt help make things right.


	19. Meeting the Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indigo's prents are coming to meet them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay and Merry late Christmas all!

Meeting the Parents

Indigo paces in their room slowly, thinking about everything they knew about the two people coming today.

After all the events of the previous day, no one was really sure if they were ready for any of this, but Indigo knew their parents were coming and it made them very anxious.

Edric has headed home to tidy himself up, along with Amity and Emira, now that the three had some freedom, they weren't quite as worried about being home on time anymore.

Luz and Eda were downstairs with Lillith, discussing things while King slept on the couch.

Indigo pauses in their pacing for a moment, they knew so little about these two people they were supposed to consider family, yes, today was an introduction, yes Edric had promised to come straight back to help them with it, yes everyone else was meeting them too, but it still felt like they were alone in this case.

No one else was expected to accept these people as their parents, no one else had to do that while also dealing with the fact that they had never not known they even had parents for a long time.

But for some reason, Indigo also wanted to meet them, wanted to know more about them, almost to the point of longing, but why? They hardly knew these people, they LEFT them in a dark cave their whole lives.

But they hadn't MEANT to do that, right? They were preparing in case it DID happen, so Indigo would be safe.

But they also KNEW it might be inevitable, so why leave in the first place?

Indigo lets out a frustrated yell, their thoughts kept constantly contradicting each other. 

Indigo grabs at their head and slumps onto their chair, hearing someone coming upstairs and a soft knock at the door.

"Come en" Indigo calls softly.

Luz pops her head in slowly.

"You okay? We all heard you yell" she says and Indigo felt the collective worry seep through the doorway, the other two must be right outside.

"Gettin' stuck en ah loop o' emotion is noh fun" Indigo says vaguely, making Luz's worry more potent, which inevitably makes Indigo cough as that horrible feeling hits them right in the gut.

"Ah'm okaeh, really, jus' confused" Indigo says, trying to ease some of that worry.

Luz opens the door a bit and walks in 

"Can I help at all?" She asks sofrly, sitting on the small pouf thing

"Ah dunno, can yeh tell meh brain teh decide ef eh wants teh meet mah paren's er noh?" Indigo asks, there wasn't a single note of jokingness in their voice.

Luz shook her head 

"Afraid not, but I think I can understand why it could be confusing, emotions arent that easy to understand sometimes"

"Yeah, Ah did'neh thin' eh woul' beh easeh buh when mah brain thinks up somethin' good in der favour, it uses de same fac' agains' em, why can' ah just…. Be happeh, er unhappeh, why do ah 'ave to beh both?"

"Hasnt anyone ever had conflicring emotions in the cave?"

"Oh fer sure, buh… Ah can'eh analyse mah own emotions de same as ah can those o' others, eh's… harder teh comprehend" Indigo says quietly.

"Its always easier when its someone elses problem" Luz says softly.

"Pre'eh much" indigo says glumly "Never 'ad teh worreh 'bout anythin' like this en de cave, jus' kin'ah existeded ah guess"

Luz watches Indigo curl into a ball and bury their face in their knees with a frustrated whine, there wasn't much the younger teen could do for Indigo.

"Well hey, we'll still be here with you!" Luz says and moves to hug the ball of confusion formally known as Indigo.

"Yeh…" came the soft reply.

"Oh don't sound so enthusiastic about it" Luz says and pokes at Indigo's sides, they didn't try to get out of the way and just kind of squirmed at the poking.

"Come ooon, I know you dont wanna be grumpy and confused all day" Luz says.

Indigo lifts their head 

"Ah am noh grumpeh!" 

"Aww look at the pouty faaaace" Luz says with a grin, knowing she was egging the other on a little but doing it more to try and take their mind off their current dilema.

"Ah am noh pou'in'!" Indigo says and moves to swat the laughing teen's head, to which she ducks and sticks her tongue out 

"Missed meeee~" Luz snickers and jumps back as Indigo tries again, before squealing as Indigo gets up and chases her around the room.

"Goh'cha!" Indigo yells and proceeds to tickle Luz ruthlessly.

Laughter fills the room and pretty much the entire house, Eda snorts as she looks at the ajar doorway at her two kids, yes HER kids, those two might have a claim on Indigo by blood but by titan almighty was Eda gonna consider that kid hers, for all the time the kid spent on her couch, eating her food and… just growing into their own person with Eda and Luz around, there was no way in the NINE hells that Eda would revoke her right to call this kid hers, same went for Luz.

Lillith had moved away from the door once it was clear Indigo was in fact alright, so Eda decided to move on too, after all, she had to make sure the others all got here before the Wrath parents showed up.

Eda fetches Owlbert and her staff, heading outside and kicking off towards Blight Manor, the kids were bound to be ready by now.

Upon spotting the manor, Eda saw the three walking out the gate and heading for a forested area nearby, probably ensuring no one saw Eda picking them up.

"Smart kids" she mutters under her breath.

The Blight children stood under a small tree, watching the skies.

"I hope this goes a lot better than yesterday" Edric says, fidgeting with his sleeve.

"To be fair it would be hard to top yesterday, unless you set the house on fire by blushing" Emira says as Edric scoffs while Amity snickers.

"Hey! Neither of you get to talk about MY blushing" Edric retorts.

"Hey! I've gotten a lot better at not doing it" Amity defends.

"This is true, but you have also been in several dangerous situations, we all know you thrive in dangerous situations, look at you when you played grudgby, we couldn't have gotten you to stop smiling if we pranked you all week" Emira says and nudges the girl.

Amity rolls her eyes "Well there shouldn't be any more dangers for now, so I can prove that I'm getting better at it, buuut since Ed is actually dating Indigo…"

"I didn't say dating!"

"You said you two were a thing now" Amity amends.

"Yeah, just… I don't even really know what you do when you're a thing… let alone dating" Edric admits, rubbing his neck.

"Well usually meeting the parents is reserved for the "boyfriend" " Emira addas helpfully.

Edric groans and covers his face as the two snicker at his reaction "Shut up!"

"Alright you three, stop having fun without me!" Eda calls and dives to land beside them.

"Hi Eda!" Emira says and trots over excitedly

"Hello Miss Owl lady" Amity says a bit more calmly, walking alongside Edric, who just looks awkwardly at the woman.

Eda can tell what the subject had last been by the poor boy's face.

"Have you two been teasing him about dating Indigo again?" Eda asks with a smirk.

"I didn't say dating!" Edric says in a squeak with makes Eda buckle over laughing.

"Sorry sorry" she says as she wipes away a tear and tries again.

"Have you two been -snort- teasing him about him and Indigo being a " she uses air quotes and wiggles her eyebrows " "thing"… again" 

Edric looks disgruntled as his sisters join Eda in another giggle before they all calm down.

"Okay, okay I'm stopping I've had my fun, hop on kids, Luz has Indigo distracted for a while but the extra company will definatly help"

"Are they still freaking out?" Edric asks as he and his siblings get onto the staff.

"A little, I think they just don't know how they're supposed to respond to those two, from what I've heard they are both happy and unhappy? It's like, yay you're back I've missed you, but where the heck have you been and why did you leave to begin with?" Eda says as she takes off.

"I hope this meeting goes better" Edric murmurs.

"Well it cant possibly be worse than the first one right? We can only really go up from there, or just stay where we were"

Indigo and Luz had been messing around for a good half hour, Indigo had put on her Jaguwrath cowl to chase Luz but Luz had distracted her with a laser pointer, thrilled that Indigo's partially transformed state loved it just as much as any cat back home had.

The little light was fascinating, Indigo had to catch it! But it always jumped away at the last minute! Pounce! Catch it, get it!

Indigo's pupils were wide with glee as they chased the small red dot around their room, occasionally knocking into something but thankfully Luz kept them mostly away from furniture.

Luz could only laugh at the random noises Indigo made when they missed the light or went to pounce at it, they really were a big cat.

"Okay I think the others are here" Luz says and switches the toy off, Indigo blinks and looks around for the light.

"Where did it go?" They ask in confusion.

"Oh don't worry, I bet it escaped downstairs somewhere, we'll find it later" Luz encourages with glee.

Indigo shakes their head a bit before looking at Luz 

"Wai' whah was ah doin' again?"

"Nothing! We gotta head downstairs, the guys will be here soon!" Luz says and charges downstairs.

Indigo is baffled for a moment before pulling their cowl down to become themselves again and following after Luz.

Eda pulls up just above the ground after a quick dive, snickering as the kids yell at her about warning them next time she was just gonna free dive from twenty feet in the air.

"Oh lighten up would ya? Luz loves that" 

"Emphasis on LUZ" Emira adds as the three stumble off the staff quickly

"Yeah yeah whatever, cmon Em, you and me are gonna have a little rematch of Hexus Hold Em" Eda says and grabs Em in a headlock, the green haired girl laughs and tries to escape.

"Admit defeat Eda, you'll never beat me!" She snickers as Eda lets go after a quick noogie.

"Never!" Eda retorts as the two head inside quickly, both eager to get to the rematch.

"Those two" Amity says and shakes her head, heading inside slowly, glancing back when she realises Edric still hadn't moved, he looked worried.

"Ed?" Amity asks and walks back to him.

"What if they dont like me?" Ed asks quietly, glancing at Amity.

"Indigo?"

"No! Their parents…"

"Their loss, as far as I'm aware, you two are a perfect match" Amity says and punches his arm roughly "Now get in here before Indigo starts to worry" she says after he winces but smiles at her, letting her drag him inside.

Upon entering the house, the first thing the two noticed was Eda and Emira already locked in a game of Hexas Hold Em, meaning the others had vacated the room, the kitchen was empty so the two ascended upstairs.

"Anyone here?" Amity calls and notices Indigo's door is slightly open.

"In here you two!" Luz calls from behind the slightly open door.

Amity and Ed head for the door and push it open slowly, Indigo was in the process of lifting Luz up to the highest bookshelf for her to grab a book she had spotted.

Indigo turns their head to flash the two a welcoming smile.

Luz finally grabs the book but unfortunately yanks it soo hard that both her and Indigo go falling backwards, both wincing before opening their eyes to see a large abomination hand gently holding them up, Amity twirls a finger and the hand gently sets Indigo back on their feet before disappearing.

"You two need to be more careful" Amity says softly.

"Yeah... but the book was stuck!" Luz defends as she is set down from Indigo's shoulders, before presenting it to them, it was an old worn book, the binding looked damaged but the pages were pristine.

"I think it got stuck to the wall, which is weird cuz Eda said she brought these from the attic" Luz says thoughtfully.

"What is it about?" Amity asks curiously, moving forward to look at it.

"It's lots of little human stories!" Luz squees happily.

"My… Mami would read these to me sometimes when I was little" her voice grew less excited and it didn't take an Empath to know just how much that thought alone had probably hurt the poor girl.

"Hey, mabeh yeh coul' help meh read em?" Indigo asks "If es an' ol' book es pro'bleh goh dem squiggleh le'ers again" 

Luz perks up a bit and opens the book to check 

"Yup, more cursive, yes! Reading time!" Luz giggles happily.

The two Blight look confused until Indigo motions them over to their chair where they sit, Luz runs to sit on the arm of the chair after pulling the little table closer.

Edric and Amity follow and stand beside them.

Luz opens the book and begins reading it aloud, Indigo winks at the two and starts spinning a finger on each side of the human's head, on the table, poofed to life by Indigo's magic, was a person that Luz was slowly describing, each new feature was added as she spoke, like their red hood and cloak, their small basket of treats, their small blue dress, the road they began to skip along and the forest they were in, all slowly taking shape.

The two siblings watch in fascination, barely aware that the two were watching them as Luz read and Indigo created the illusion of the story.

"But the Big Bad Wolf snuck ahead of Red Riding Hood and arrived at Grandma's first!" Luz says dramatically as Ed gasps in shock, Amity giggles at her brothers dramatic reaction, she had no idea he loved stories so much, though the way Luz read and how Indigo projected it, it was no wonder he was enthralled by it, she herself didnt want to take her eyes away, nor stop listening to the sound of Luz speaking.

After another hour of storytelling and projecting, the four settled on the floor.

"Hmm it's almost midday, maybe they're coming when it gets dark so they don't get seen?" Amity asks logically.

"Thah woul' make sense" Indigo says, appreciating Amity's attempts to keep them calm.

"Oooh, hey Ed did you bring your wolfbat cloak?" Luz asks.

"Yeah, why?" Ed asks.

"I totally wanna see you flying! Duh!" Luz says and bounces up.

Edric stands but looks skeptical "But I might get messy" 

"Oh go on Ed, if you get messy we can help you tidy up again, I'm curious too, Wolfbats havent been around for some time" Amity adds.

"Okay I know you've seen me fly already" Ed says and boops Amity's nose, she swats his hand away.

"Nope, too busy running for my life" Amity says and sticks a tongue out at him.

"Ah haven' goh teh see yeh fly yeh eider" Indigo mentions and Edric's ears brightwn a few shades before he clears his throat.

"Alright fine, fine, but only for a little bit" Edric says as Amity and Lux just give him smug looks.

"Not a word" he mutters and points to Amity who raises her hands and looks away.

"I didn't say anything" she defends but keeps the smug look on her face.

Indigo is giggling behind Edric, they knew he might be a little bashful for a while, he hadn't been able to explain too much about dating due to his own lack of experience and he was a little embarassed about it, Indigo told him they were fine taking their time and just working things out together.

The four head downstairs to see Em claiming victory once again.

"Agh! I know you cheated… I just dont know how… good job kid, I taught you well" Eda says and smirks as she ruffles Em's hair once again, making the girl giggle.

"And you never will if I can help it" Emira adds.

"Thats my girl, keep it all up here and nowhwre else" Eda says and taps her temple.

"EEEda! We're gonna go watch Ed flying!" Luz calls.

"Ooooh Woofboy wants to fly? Well now we gotta go watch" Eda says and Emira just smirks 

"He isn't going to crash Eda" she says and shakes her head.

"You wanna but?" Eda asks

"Sure, Ibet your Heas Hold Em deck that he doesnt crash" Emira says with confidence.

Eda snorts "Hah, no chance, that boy can fly, I ain't risking that over a little fun" Eda says and heads towards the group.

Ed steps out first and looks back to see everyone watching him, feeling nervous for a moment.

"Hey, dweeb!" Eda says and everyone looks at her "Hah! You all looked, you just admitted you are dweebs!" Eda snorts loudly and doubles over in amusement.

Everyone rolls their eyes and looks back to see Ed had vanished, they looked up to see him in his half wolfbat form, climbing up high.

"Woo! Go Ed go!" Luz calls, earning a glance back from Ed and a wolfish smirk before he starts doing tricks, now in the air, he felt a little more confident, he knew how to fly with these wings, the tail had taken time to get used to, but now even that felt like almost second nature.

The group watches Ed in fascination, he began diving down towards the ground rapidly, everyone watches nervously, even Eda seemed a little concerned at his rate of falling.

"Pull up kid pull up" Emira hears her murmur as her eyes watch him.

Just before Ed could hit thr ground, his wings flare open and he shoots around the owl house at top speed, before eventually aliding to a halt in front of the group, looking windswept and puffed.

Everyone crowds Ed quickly, cheering and ruffling at his fur, making him grumble and bat them away playfully, complaining that they were messing with his look.

"Now that was so nice free falling kid, but for the love of titan pull up sooner" Eds says quietly.

"It was indeed quite impressive"

"Yeh, coul' give yeh a run fer yeh moneh Sabrė" 

Everyones heads snap around as the two familiar voices reach out through the woods, everyone looks up into the trees and sees the two lounging on a branch, side by side.

Indigo shrinks back behind Eda, who already half stood in front of them.

"Hey there" Eda calls neutrally, trying to be calm and polite, it didnt suit her but she had to try for her kids sake.

"Greetings Owl Lady" Sabrė responds and the two hop out of the tree to land on their feet.

Ferir is the first to step forward.

"Listen ah knoh weh all goh off on de wrong fooh lass nigh'..." they begin.

"Hold it, all of us agreed that technically, you guys haven't met, what Indigo wants to do is officially introduce themselves and have you lot do it too, they haven't really decided how they feel about you yet so this might help them do that" Eda says quickly as the kids all kind of shift around her.

Edric is tempted to remove his cloak hood and be himself, but he didnt want to interrupt the moment.

Sabrė and Ferir listen to Eda's words, though it is clear how hurt it leaves them that their child is unsure of them, they nod in agreement.

"If it will make them comfortable, then I see no reason to refuse" Sabrė says sofrly.

"Alright then, kid?" Eda asks and looks behind her back to Indigo "You wanna start or should they?" She asks, not recieving a verbal answer since no one heard anything before she turns.

"Alright, you two go first" Eda says and beckons them forwards.

The two step forqards till they were just a few paces away.

"I am Sabrė Wrath, Ferir and I are a couple, I specialize in Bard and Illusion magic but Beast keeping is also a pssion of mine" 

Eda raises a brow, those were the two tracks Indigo had chaoden, but she didnt voice this yet as Indigo hadnt shown they were comfortable sharing infornation yet.

Ferir speaks next "I am Ferir Wrath, I married Sabrė and we changed our last name to Wrath to potect our respective families"

Eda looks back to see Indigo's ears drop a bit.

"I have a few questions for you two if you dont mind?" Eda asks.

"By all means, so long as we may ask some too" Sabrė replies.

"Thats fair, first question, why the heck would you have a kid if you knew for a fact you were being hunted?" Eda asks.

Firi's ears flatten to their head a bit but Sabrė puts a hand on their arm to calm them down.

"It is a fair question" Sabrė says "To answer it honestly, we were worried that one of us wouldn't be there, either captured or killed, we wanted to have a child, we always have, but we knew it would be challenging, so we created the cave… in the hopes that we could at least share some time with them…." 

Eda listens carefully to Sabrė's words.

"Why not keep your staff with you? Why give your palismens to the Bat Queen?"

"Because if we were caught and lost… our palismwns would be destroyed on the spot, or worse yet…. Given to Belos" Sabrė replies.

Luz shivers beside Eda, who glances at her in question.

Luz covers her mouth with a hand and shakes her head.

Ferir's eyes shift to Luz "You have seen what Belos does to them?" She asks, it seemed they were keeping their accent down for now, so others could understand them well.

Luz nods sloely.

"I have also witnessed it, it d  
disgusts me that he is still doing it" Ferir remarks.

Eda looks back at the two for a moment.

"How did you reserve the petrification?"

Ferir looks Eda in the eye.

"It is a very complicated explaination, perhaps we can answer that one after?" They ask quietly.

Eda nods once, that seemed to be satisfactory for now.

"May we ask now?" Sabrė asks.

"Knock yourself out" Eda says.

"How did someone find….. Indigo?" Ferir asks, seeming to be about to call them by their original name.

"Well see, thing is that cave became very popular, around… ten years ago, people reported a voice asking them about their feelings, asking them to explain them, next thing its known as the cave of emotions and any who dared to enter would have their emotions read and any grievances cleared, but since it was pitch black, no one knew who or what was doing it, since spell circles didnt work, no one could really do anything about the place…. Then these two came along" 

Eda explains exactly what happened between Luz, Amity and Indigo, then about Edric, after unceremoniously dragging him forward and setting him in front of herself, basically leaning on his head with an elbow.

Edric simply stands there, the two staring at him as Eda explains all the stuff he did to encourage Indigo out of the cave.

"So then they all flew here, and Indigo's been sleeping on my couch, then later their own chair in their new room" Eda finishes speaking.

Ferir and Sabrė take a minute to obsorb all of this, looking between all those involved.

"They don't sleep in a bed?" 

"Indigo doesn't like beds, they used to sleep standing up, thats how no one found them in the cave" Edric adds quickly, his squeaky voice make the two's eyebrows raise a bit and he promptly shuts up.

"So where did you come across the glyph to transform like that?" Ferir asks Edric.

Edric cringes down a bit, Eda stops leaning on him and lifts him up straight.

"They found your house once they lit the place up a bit" Eda says.

"Lit the place up? How? No one could have made out those glyphs in the dark"

"I told ya, my kid Luz does glyphs too, light is her specialty" Eda says and grabs Luz closer in a headlock.

"They are human…. How interesting" Sabrė says as they notice Luz's ears.

"Yes she is" Eda says and ruffles Luzs hair a little more.

"Well… I think thats the majority of what we need to know…" Ferir says, noticing Indigo still hadn't come out from behind Eda.

Sabrė sighs a bit and glances at their partner.

"Perhaps we should go back home for now, give them more time" they say and the two turn and start to head for the forest.

Eda turns to look behind her and notices Indigo wasnt there anymore.

Eda glances around before spotting them up in a tree, staring down at the two people, eyes glued to them with an unreadable expression.

"Hold up you two" Eda says and walks aftwr them.

The two pause and turn around in confusion.

"Yes?" Sabrė asks in confusion.

"There is something you need to know if you're gonna keep coming here" Eda says, neither of the two had seen Hooty emerge behind them from the trees.

"Oh hey! Hoot! New friends!"

Ferir whips around and slashes at Hooty almost instantly with s feral hiss, Sabre was quick to grab them and pull them away from Hooty, who had hooted in pain and retreated.

"That" Eda says with a smirk "Is the house demon, Hooty, Indigo can't detect him so chances are neither can you, just be sure to watch out for him when you arrive, he likes… to chat" 

Ferir had calmed down but was glaring daggers at the now retreated house demon, sending an annoyed hiss at him.

"Funny enough Indigo reacted the same way" Eda says with a chuckle.

This made the two glance at Eda, Ferir's ears had dipped a bit at acting so chikdishly over a demon sneaking up on them.

Sabrė nods "Any Empath who cant detect something tends to lash out if surprised, Ferir has been working hard on that but… your house demon seems to be an acception" 

Hooty erupts from the ground by Sabrė "I'm accepted?" He asks excitedly, only for Sabrė to yell in surprise and punch him in the face, hard.

"Ow! HOOT!" Hooty retreats again, grumbling about meanies.

A chuckle echos down from above the pair, Ferir knows who it is and stops Sabrė from glancing up, the house demon had distracted them enough to not notice Indigo moving closer.

"Well, I believe that covers everything, now, any last minute questions?" Eda asks.

"Yes, I was going to ask this fine young man why he is still in his disguise" Sabrė says as they realise Edric hadnt changed back.

"Oh!" Edric pulls off his hood "I forgot" he says and rubs the back of his neck.

"You forgot you were a wolfbat?" Sabrė asks skeptically.

"Yeah, it feels comfortable to be like that" Edric says with a shrug.

"Hmm, have you tried being full Wolfbat?" Sabrė asks, Ferir sighs, knowing their partner would become fixated on leanring something new.

"No, I haven't worked out how to do that yet, I've seen Indigo go full Jaguwrath and not really have full control so…" 

"So you're worried it would happen to you as well, a logical conclusion" Sabrė says."May I have a look at your half wolfbat form again?" They ask and step forward.

Edric nods and moves forward, flicking his cloak hood up.

Sabrė "hmm"s quite a lot as they walk around Edric a few times.

"You're wings detatch?" 

"Yeah, they kinda just slide out when I want them too"

"Interesting, I had no idea they could do that, makes for carrying things a lot easier" 

"Yeah!" Edeic looked pleased as Sabrė caught on to the intent of the detatchable wings.

"Have you found any other interesting traits?" Sabrė asks

"Well Wolfbats are great free-divers, they can reach some incredible speeds while keepting their mobility and they had a third eyelid to keep out dust and debris "

"Ahh! I see!" Sabrė nods and continues to examine the now detached wings.

Ferir sighs heavily.

"Sabrė we really should be heading back, we don't want to keep them all day" they call, keeping their accent at bay still.

Both Sabrė and Edric seemed to hear none of this and continued to talk enthusiastically about Wolfbats and their abilities.

Ferir face palms and walks over, trying to grab Sabrė but the other ducks out of the way with ease and continues around Edric.

"Sabrė please, do not do this now" Ferir says in a lower whisper.

"Oh come on, I haven't gotten to talk to someone who appreciates Wolfbats as much as I do for 17 years!" Sabrė says and puts a hand on each of Edrics shoulders from the back, being a head taller than him, their head was just above his as they grin at their partner.

"Sabrė, you KNOW thats not how pertification works, we had no concept of time passing, now come on, you know you'll end up talking all day if you dont" Ferir states.

"And YOU know its too late and you should just give up now" Sabrė retorts.

"Sabrė Ah swear teh titan ef yeh don' come wih meh now Amma havteh drag yeh home" Ferir says, hands on their hips and accent thick as oil.

The group around Eds looks completely confused as very few of them caught those words, Indigo however knew exactly what they had just said and watched with raised brows.

Sabrė grins wider and whispers something to Edric, who looks startled at first before they duck behind him as Ferir darts around him.

Edric keeps turning so Sabrė was always behind his wings.

"Boy geh ouh oh mah way" Ferir says calmly and Edric steps aside, but Sabrė wasnt behind him anymore.

"Whah…. Sabrė!" Ferir calls and puts their hands on their hips in annoyance.

"Yes dearest?" Came a voice above Ferir who looks up to see Sabrė in a half wolfbat form, hanging daintily from a tree branch.

Ferir folds their arms "Sabrė we came to make a good impression" they murmur.

"Well clearly our child knows just as well as you do that we are not being outselves around them, you hate acting all responsible and civilised, I hate having to ignore something that interests me, all they're gonna feel from us is annoyance and hate, do you think thats gonna go down well hun?" Sabrė asks as they fold their winged arms.

Ferir stares up at Sabrė in complete silence for a full minute, before sighing heavily.

"Ah guess noh" Ferir's ears go down some more.

"Then stop acting all proper and be yourself, let them see you as you" Sabrė says and flaps their wings, turning as they let go of the branch and fall to the ground stylishly.

Ferir takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly, before turning and heading towards Eda, who raises a brow as they come very close, before yelping in surprise as they get pulled into a bear hug by the other.

"Thank yeh kindleh fer lookin after our babeh, yeh have neh idea how much ah appreciahe eh!" Ferir says with happy tears in their eyes.

"Ahh, yeah yeah no problem, put me down!" Eda says and tries to pat their back but they only hug her tighter.

Once Ferir let go of Eda, everyone could see the visible difference in their expression, it was so much calmer and far more relaxed, like they were just overjoyed to be there.

"Don' thin' Ah forgoh 'bout yeh loh, c'mere!" Ferir says and tries to get all the younger ones in a hug, Luz was more than happy to hug them back, Amity, being squished between Emira and Luz in the hug, didn't really have a choice and Emira just seemed baffled at the rapid change in this person's behaviour.

Edric watches from the treeline with Sabrė, who doesn't notice the third person that had slowly moved to join the two, watching Ferir with interest.

Edric had noticed Indigo approaching and turned his head slightly with an encouraging smile and a slight tilt of his head at Sabrė.

Indigo took another tiny step foeward, Sabrė clearly noticed the tiny movement and turned their head, at first shocked and surprised but Indigo felt it melt away to sheer glee, but they contantined their reaction well, just smiling brightly and not saying anything.

Indigo knew they wanted to speak to and hug them, but they seemed to undetstand that Indigo wasnt ready just yet, they needed time to accept the two.

Once Ferir was done hugging everyone and very threateningly growling when Hooty tried to get in on the hugs, they turned and spotted Indigo, who stayed still up until Ferir opened their mouth to speak, Indigo retreated back to where they had been out of sight.

Ferir's mouth shuts and their ears drop.

Sabrė notices and walks over.

"They aren't ready yet, don't worry, we have time" 

Ferir nods once before turning to the others.

"Weh realleh shoul' beh goin' now" they say softly.

"Hey, do you have anymore of those animal glyphs? Like cats or otters?!" Lux asks excitedly.

"Whah's an ohher?" Ferir whispers and Sabrė shrugs.

"Uhhh, we do have a book of illusionary glyphs, maybe on our next trip we can brng it with us, maybe you can find your… otter in there" Sabrė replies softly.

"Wow! Really?!" Luz asks, almost bouncing off the ground.

"Oh course, yeh all kept our babeh safe, weh owe yeh thah much ahleas' " Ferir adds.

Luz looks at Amity "Did you hear that?! We could have animal cloaks too!" She squees in delight and hugs Amity.

Amity promptly turns beet red at the close proximity, her eyes immediatly dart to the snickering witches aka Eda and Emira who just grin at the poor tomato faced girl.

"What animal would you pick Amity?" Luz asks as she pulls away.

"Uh…" Amity clearly needed a few seconds to regain herself.

"I know what I would pick, I'd go for a Kyubai" Emira says and Ferir immediately raises both brows.

"Hmm, someone knows their beasts well, thats a rarity even on the isles" they complimemt.

"I know, a friend told me about them, we even saw one up close… a little too close to be honest" Emira says with a shrug.

"Was this during your "not a date" with Viney?" Amity asks and watched Emira go bright red, spluttering indignantly before turning to glare daggers at Amity.

Thankfully, Luz had been too distracted and Amity had said it softly enough to get away with it, the only person who heard apart from Ferir was Eda, who just grins.

"Ahh, wan' teh impress a frien' eh? An' here ah assumed yeh wan'ed teh do some pranks" Ferir says in amusement.

"Well… that wouldn't be an incorrect guess either" Emira says with a smirk and Ferir chuckles softly at her blunt honesty.

Emira looks doen to see Amity deep in thought.

"A dragon would be cool" Amity admits.

Luz gasps in surprise and glee.

"What if you got one like in Azura 2?" She says and Amity's eyes light up.

"That… would be pretty cool" she admits.

"Heck yeah it would!" Luz says and bounces about, before a thought occurs to her.

"Hey, if you dont mind me asking? Do YOU have a cloak animal?" She asks Ferir, who raises a brow with a grin.

"Yeh ah deh, eh's a Teagle"

"A uh… a what sorry?"

"Teagle" Ferir repeats and reaches up to pull up a hood, stepping back as their cloak glows and their form grows, leaving a large bipedal tiger creature with a beak and large orange and black stripes wings, a long tail with feathers swayed in and out of view as large powerful paws with wicked sharp tal9n looking claws, tye legs appeared more gryphon like in that the feet were more like a bird's talons but much bigger.

Luz stares in wonder and excitement as the large wings flare open impressively for a moment before settling against Ferir's back comfortably.

"Teagle, a tiger eagle!" Luz says and starts running around Ferir in excitement, asking questions.

"Ferir, I do believe we were meant to be leaving?" Sabrė teases as Edric snorts.

"Weh are!" Ferir says and after some hesitation, adds "In ah minueh"

Sabrė laughs quietly as they and Edric continue their conversation.

"So do you think you have the glyphs for those?" Luz asks.

"Hmm, I'll try and find out for you, I know we have a lot of animal illusion glyphs so it's always possible"

"How did you come across the glyphs? I've found Light, fire, ice and plant but I haven't seen anything like those!" Luz says.

"Mm the elemental glyphs eh? Those are some of the stronger glyphs, I'm impressed you found them all, as for how, well, I have a knack for drawing so.. I just kind of drew the heads of beasts and hoped really, it took several tries to get most of them right, those two your friend and… Indigo are wearing are some of my proudest works"

Emira pipes up "Is it okay if I ask something?" 

"Of course"

"Why are you two so weirded out by Indigo's name?" Emira asks "It's like you don't want to call them by it is all" she adds.

Ferir sighs "They did have a name from us before, it's… strange to have to call them something else now"

".... Can you tell us what their old name was?" Emira asks cautiously.

"I see no harm in that, originally we called them Jag"

"Jag?" Luz asks.

"Yes, like Jagged Teeth" Ferir says with a soft chuckle "it was Sabrė's idea, thats why they were so surprised when we were told they chose another name, we kind of hoped they had remembered, even if it was unrealistic" Ferir says as their large feathered cat ears flatten to their head.

"I mean, they could use that as their middle name!" Luz says quickly to try and lighten the mood.

"Middle… name?" 

"Yeah, humans have a tradition of a name between your first and last names, its normally something significant to the person, like a grandparent or even parent"

"Hmm, well if they want to, that would be nice" Ferir says softly, giving the human a gentle smile even with their large beak.

"Ferir! Come on! I want to race!" Sabrė calls loudly.

Ferir sighs "Sabrė you and I both know who will win"

"Thats because you let me win! Come on! I want to see how fast Edric can dive compared to us!" Sabrė says and moves to try and drag the significantly larger half Teagle, with obviously no result.

"Sabrė really, we can do that another day, I think it really is about time we headed off" Ferir says and turns to pluck them up.

"Oh so now you want to go?" Sabrė asks accusingly.

"Yeh, 'cause I don' need yeh draggin' thah poor boy through teh sky ah almos' teh speed o' soun'" Ferir retorts.

Ferir turns and waves a clawed hand 

"We will be going now" they says before their wings open and they jump into the sir effortlessly, still carrying Sabrė till the other splits off and opens their own wings wide, flying off much faster than the larger half Teagle.

Everyone's eyes follow the two specks until they are way out of sight.

Eda looks towards the forest.

"You can come out now kid, they're away" she calls.

Indigo hops down into view from a tree in the distance, walking over slowly.

"So do we have a verdict kid? Or yeh still unsure of them? I noticed you didn't actually end up introducing yourself" Eda asks.

"Well, when deh other one said 'bout bein' themselves, eh felt more comfortable, buh… Ah jus' wan' some more time"" Indigo says softly.

"That's alright, but for now lets head in, remember, you lot have school tomorrow" Eda says.


	20. An Illusionist's Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Illusionists dream comes true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reader beware, you're headed for dispair.

"Come on you two, get going! I have to get to my stall!" Eda calls up the stairs at the two still snoozing individuals who were supposed to be up already.

Luz was the first to appear, but rather than head downstairs, she headed to Indigo's room.

Eda shakes her head slowly, normally Luz and Indigo were not so difficult to rouse, but the two had stayed up reading to an un titan-ly hour, even Eda had to put her foot down sometimes, the two had to sleep.

Luz came back with a still sleeping Indigo following, holding their hand as the two came downstairs.

"I warned you not to read all night long, now look at the state of you both!" Eda says with crossed arms.

"But it was, hhhhhaaaaaahhhhh, getting to the good part" Luz yawns mid sentence as she leads Indigo over to the table to prepare them breakfast, making sure they were sitting down before leaving them.

"Haven't you already read all those Azura books already?" Eda asks.

"Yeah but Indigo can project them like in a hhhhaaaaahhh, in a movie, I've never gotten to watch a book before, its way better than those dumb adaptations those stupid companies tried to make, they even pronounced Hecate's name wrong, the only good ones were the spinoffs"

Luz placed the cooked food on the table, the smell seemed to rouse Indigo as their eyes opened slowly, they blinked a few times and looked about slowly before looking down at their plate, their head tilted a bit and they grabbed a fork to slowly munch on the food.

"Well don't keep doing it, I may not approve of you two going to that school but that doesn't mean you get to slack off on all the actual good stuff you could potentially learn, sparse as it is" Eda says firmly.

"Oookay Eda, we won't read till 3am anymore, we get it" Luz says after a mouthful of eggs.

"Good, now hurry up, if you dont wanna end up walking there. You better be ready in 15 minutes!" 

Eda walks around the corner to see Lillith sipping tea on the couch, glancing over at her with a smirk and a raised brow.

"What?!" Eda demands.

"Nothing, just surpriaed to see you taking their education so seriously, I remember you always reading far into the night back home" 

"I'll have you know I was actually studying magic myself! You think I got where I am now by only stickimg to Bumps weirdo methods of teaching? Now if it was studying they were doing then I'd get it, sure, but they're just reading Luz's favourite book and watching Indigo project it!" Eda says and flails her arms about a bit.

Lillith nods after another sip of tea.

"I see why you're being firm, but have you considered Indigo may be trying to help Luz forget about a certain… event and how she may not be back for it?" Lillith asks.

Eda narrows her eyes in thought "Event? What even… oh, that event, is it really coming up?" She asks.

"If you found her around the time I met her then she would be here for about a month and a half correct?" 

"Yeah that's about right" Eda says.

"I overheard her talking to Indigo, she was meant to be going back home in about 2 weeks" Lillith days and sets her cup back down.

"Edalyn, the way she spoke of her mother, she is heartbroken to not have a way back home" Lillith says with a soft expression of em11pathy as she glances towards the kitchen.

Eda grimaces as she thinks about how no one had really spoken about the portal with all that was happening with Indigo and their parents.

"The kid is home-sick huh?" She asks.

"Quite, or at least, its becoming real now that going home is no longer an option, I believe Indigo wanted to take her mind off this fact, finding something she l9ves to do and entertaining her with it, probably since Luz was so willing to help them with their own situation" Lillith continues.

Eda sighs softly "That does sound like them, yeah, that makes sense, maybe I should… talk to the kid about this, without magic I can't really do much, but if she needs to talk…"

"Eda! We're ready to go!" Came a call from the kitchen"

Eda turns her head.

"I'd advise doing it later, dont want them being late for school now do we?" Lillith asks.

Eda snorts and rolls her eyes.

The ride to school had been eventuful, what with two half asleep riders and one concerned Eda trying to keep them both ON the staff.

"Oh thank titan we're here, off, go to class, get!" Eda says after a quick swat at them, waking them enough to get them off the staff and heading for the school, she had to stop a bit away just in case the school was monitored by Belos' men.

Luz and Indigo trudged down the path slowly towards the school.

Several voices came charging their way.

Luz and Indigo were promptly tackled by Gus and Willow as they exclaimed a loud "Hug time!"

"You two are safe! Luz you were awesome!" Willow says and picks Luz up in a tight bear hug.

Gus helps Indigo to their feet.

Luz was chuckling as Willow sets her down from their hug.

"Thanks Willow! We had to get Eda out of there!" Luz says and hugs her back in delight.

"We saw what those two and King were doing so I talked to my dad and Willow started helping them! Everyone was chanting!" Gus says.

"Yeh. eh was preheh cool" Indigo says with a tired smile.

"Oh by the way, Indigo, Principal Bump wants to see us later today about something" Gus says.

"Aigh'" Indigo says with and as the four begin to head for the school.

The day goes by far too slowly for Indigo, they were still very tired, unable to sleep until Luz had completely forgotten her worries, which were unintentionally causing Indigo a stomach ache.

Usually when Bard class was next, Indigo was ecstatic, but today they couldn't even muster up the energy for a grin, they hadn't seen Edric at all today, he was great at helping them feel better, but he was yet to be found, perhaps he skipped a day?

Indigo walks into Bard studies and takes their usual seat at the front, not hearing someone slip into the seat next to them, everyone in the class was very friendly and just kinda sat with whomever they felt like, the teacher saw no sense in restricting their seating as it encouraged more friendships which lead to improved work ethic in projects.

A familiar voice calls them and they wearily slid an eye open to try and make out who it is.

"Hey sleepy head, you gonna sleep the whole class away?" Came the distinctive voice from the blob of creamy white ans green.

Indigo stares to try and clear their vision.

"Oh come on dont look at me like that" and with those words came the attempt at a light smack which Indigo didnt even bother dodging, the hand stops when it actually makes contact with them.

"Man you really are tired huh? We should find Edric at lunch, get you some sleep"

Indigo blinks and sits up, rubbing at their eyes for a moment before opening them again.

Sitting beside them was Emira, leaning forward on the desk as she stares at them.

"Oh hey you finally figured out it was me" she snickers a bit.

"Whah yeh doin' en bard?" Indigo asks, moving their arms to curl them om the desk so they could rest their head there while still looking up at Emira.

"Oh come on, are you so tired you cant put two and two together.

"Lil bih yeh" Indigo says drearily.

"Man we really do need to find Ed, maybe you should skip a class to sleep" Emira says in concern.

"Am fine, lunch is long 'nough" Indigo says.

"Man does missing Ed really keep you up all night?" 

"Ha ha ha, nah, havin' Ed dere means ah can sleep neh mah'er whah negativiteh es aroun', wi'ouh 'im, eh's jus' a loh 'arder teh sleep ef someone's feelin' down"

"Is… someone feeling down?"

"Yeh know ah can'eh tell yeh thah" Indigo says simply.

"It's Luz isnt it? Because of the portal?" 

Indigo stays silent amd simply blinks.

"You stayed up all night with her didn't you?" 

"Well ah wasn' gunna beh sleepin' so ah migh' as well 'elp 'er feel beh'er" Indigo says with a half shrug.

"Hmm, still, you two need to sleep"

"Yeh soun' like Eda" Indigo says simply.

"Good!" Emira says with a smirk.

"So… yeh gunna tell meh why yer 'ere?" Indigo asks again.

Emira rolls her eyes and moves to sit back, revealing the other half of her uniform, which was now sporting a nice bright red to it, straight down the middle.

Indigo took several seconds to process this before their eyes widened.

"Yeh joined de Bard track too?" Indigo ssks in surprise and barely contained glee.

"Yeah, figured it couldn't hurt to give it a go, right?" 

Indigo gives a chuckle, trying their best to keep the smile on their face there.

"So you gonna tell me how this class works or nap?" Emira asks and boops their nose.

Indigo just laughs a bit "Nap" they repliy and close their eyes.

"Wha… No! Indigo come ooon!" 

"Whah, yeh offered" Indigo retorts and bats the assaulting hand away a few times.

"Indie please, I dont want to make a bad impression by knowing nothing" 

Indigo sighs softly and sits up to take out their notebook to pass to Emira.

"Try readin' thah, Ah can'eh promise eh'll help much buh ehs somethin'" they say softly.

"How are you gonna stay awake till lunch?" 

"Weh greah difficuleh" 

"Oh titan"

-Lunchtime-

Emira and Indigo headed for the cafeteria together, they had had a double bard class so it went right up till lunch.

Emira had done her best to keep Indigo awake enough to comprehend the lesson, the poor kid just could not keep their eyes open, they needed a good rest.

At the last ten minutes, Emira decided, since the teacher had told them to look over their notes, to let them drift off early, it was a little awkward waiting for every else to leave and now walking the corridors holding their hand to keep them moving.

There was no doubt in Emira's mind that silly assumptions and rumors would get around, thankfully her brother had more sense than to believe those.

Once in the cafeteria, Emira headed as descretely as she could to where Ed and Luz's group were, helping Indigo sit down, where they promptly slumped against Edric once she let go of their hand.

"Ooof! Oh, hey uh… oh, they're asleep…." Ed says, a little disappointed, his new uniform sported an orange side now along with his illusion blue.

"Yeah, they were half asleep all class, they just dozed off in the last ten minutes, your probably going to hear rumors of us holding hands and all that" Emira says.

"Heh, its school, I've ALREADY heard the rumors" Ed says with a snicker.

"Oh hush, you know they arent true"

"Well the hand holding part is, not so much the other parts, yknow like how your dating and all?" Ed says with a raised brow, knowing others were listening in.

"No, thats your job" Emira adds with a smiliar raised brow and Edric's ears brighten red a bit, but he flicks them up higher anyways, maybe a little more confident about the subject.

Luz, meanwhile had been asleep on the table, Willow had made her a moss pillow to sleep on because the poor thing was asleep on her feet during Plants studies.

"So these two are both really tired, did something happen after the other night?" Gus asks.

"I think it'd be best to let Luz tell us when shes ready to" Willow says quickly.

Edric meanwhile had started asking Emira about her new class and how it went.

"It went well! Indigo's…. Notes" she says with a smirk and quotation marks before pulling out Indigo's notebook from her pocket to show them "Are more like… spell diagrams" she says and flips to a page.

Those who were awake took a peek to see a series of sketches, 

"This one in particular seemed to be about a recording spell" Emira says as they look at the drawing.

"How can you interprete that?" Gus asks curiously.

"Well they seem to have a pattern, first they draw the casting of the spell, see the person drawing the circle?"

"Yeah?"

"They seem to always draw the circle at the right size for the spell, so it shows the strength of this spell, so this one is relatively small, only needing the flick of a finger"

Emira demonstrates with a spell circle.

"And how do you know its a recording spell?" Gus continues to ask, clearly interested.

'See the other person beside them? They wrote runes beside them to indicate the prson is talking, then over here its just the caster, they draw the same sized circle and the runes come out of it"

Emira dispells the circle and draws another which repeats what they just said in their voices.

Gus looks impressed "Thats really cool! That would make things like confessions and interrogations so much more viable!" Gus says and taps his chin with a finger in a thoughtful manner.

"Yeah… also good for bards" Emira adds with a chuckle at the boys odd behaviour but brushes it off as just Gus being Gus.

"What else do they have?" Amity asks curiously as she leans over to look at the book.

"Voice changing, repetitive sound generation, amplification, a whole bunch of stuff!" Emira says in excitement and starts showing Amity all the "notes" of course Amity was more than happy to listen, Emira never seemed this enthused about many things other than pranks, which she rarely did anymore, or illusions.

Edric had also noticed Emira's excitement and listens as she continued on about how Illusions and Bard really benefited each other as subjects.

"Like look at this! Combining an illusion spell for a platform and a Bard spell for visible sound waves, you get these colourful sound paths, when you walk on them they send a wave of colour outwards!" Emira continues.

Edric notices Indigo moving and turns to check on them, seeing their eyes open and flickering a bit.

"Hey, you okay?" He asks softly, Indigo's eyes dart to his and a thought hits his mind like a soft whisper.

"Stonic's back, he's supposed to be suspended for another week"

Edric's ears pin back and as if on cue in walks Stonic, his backup crew walking in behind him as he scowls.

Edric taps Emira's arm, she turns to him in question and follows the subtle jut of his head towards the doorway to spot the cause of the upset look on his face.

Emira glares daggers at the guy as he starts heading towards them before turning to the two and winking, drawing a circle under the table.

Indigo, who was still tired and so not ready to dwal with Stonic so soon, didn't understand what she was doing, but Edric did and winks back.

Stonic stops behind them and smirks at Indigo

"What's the matter? Not happy to see me? Or are you scared the chairs will attack you again" Stonic taunts.

"You shouldn't be back already, you were suspended for 2 weeks, in case you didnt realise, its only been one" Edric says.

"My Dad pulled some leverage with the school council, I got back early" Stonic replies snidely

"Your parents arent the only ones with money you know"

Emira continues to glare in silence as Edric turns and stands, but Indigo grabs his arm to stop him doing anything rash.

"Go ahead Blight, punch me again" Stonic invites.

"Hah, I wasnt gonna punch you, I wanted to thank you" Edric says and stands tall with a smile.

"Wh… wait what?" Stonic sounds baffled.

"Yeah, If I hadnt punched you, I wouldnt have gotten more time with Indigo, so thanks for giving me a reason to punch you Stonic, it reeealy helped me out" 

Stonic looks absolutely baffled as Edric turns to sit down.

"Yeah… well, have fun with your THEYfriend"

"I will, since we are together now, All thanks to you" Edric says and watches Stonic's jaw drop further in absolute disbelief.

"I… dgh…. You! Aaaahhh!" Stonic stomps off dramatically with his pose in tow.

Edeic waits till they're out of sight before bursting out laughing.

Emira sighs and rubs her eyes "Okay, switch back please" 

Indigo blinks in confusion as the two twirl fingers and yet nothing seems to happen.

"Whah?" Indigo asks simply.

"We switched, plus an illusion to keep us looking like the other, plus one of Emira's new spells from your notes, voice mimicry" Edeic says as he points to the open book before them.

Indigo blinks slowly and looks back at Emira again.

"Yeh can tell whah ah drew?"

"Yeah, everyone else seems to struggle a bit with it though"

Indigo lets out a tired chuckle.

"And did you really have to add the last bit? I might have said it discreetly but I didn't need it announced to the entire cafeteria" Edric says as he looks at Emira.

"Naturally, if I tried to keep it discreet he'd have figured out you didn't want others to know and try to hang it over your head" Emira says.

Edric thinks it over "Yeah that seems like what he would do, doesn't it?" 

"Yep" Emira says "And I got to practice my new spell!" She says gleefully "Indigo do you have more notes?" 

Emira glances at Indigo, who had already fallen back against Edric's shoulder with their hood up, their braid slung over a shouldwr to stop it getting caught, clearly already in a deep sleep.

"Heh, I shouldn't really be surprised" 

"Oh yeah, the principal called me and Indigo to the office later after classes are over, so they should get some rest for whatever he has in store" Gus says.

"Oh hey, we got a message about seeing Bump after school too" Edric says, trying not to move too much and disrupt Indigo, he knew it wouldn't wake them but he didn't want them slumping to the table either.

"Really? Huh, wonder what's going on… do you think we're in trouble?" 

"I don't remember the four of us doing anything bad together" Emira says softly.

Amity sits up as if she just remembered something, clearing her throat as the others glance at her.

"Sorry, nothing, Luz kicked me in her sleep" Amity says, no one paid it any more mind, though they also missed the knowing gleam Amity had in her eyes.

The lunch bell screams and both Indigo and Luz's eyes snap open.

"Ahh!" Luz starts for a second before calming down "Was I asleep for the whole of lunchtime?" She asks Willow, who shrugs.

"No, just when I made you that moss pillow" she says.

"Oh, okay" 

"Didn't you make her that…" Gus starts but is cut off when Williw places a hand over his mouth.

"Sh"

"Oooh right okay" 

Indigo sits up, looking a little brighter after the short nap, glancing at Edric and then down at his uniform, an air of confusion yet again befalls her.

"Es ereh'one changin' colehs today?" They ask.

Edric chuckles in amusement "No, I joined the Beast-Keeping track" he says proudly.

"Oooh, how was eh?" Indigo asks as they get up.

"It was great! The teacher said I had to pass an orientation quiz before I got to actually take care of one of the schools beasts, but I'm almost certain I aced it" he says.

"Greah, whah beas' coul' yeh en' up gettin'?" 

"Mmm the school has quite a few varieties of beasts, Like Gryphons, Maulantulas.. TAMED maulantulas" Edric adds as Indigo recoils at the thought.

"Ugh, please don' pick thah one" they say pleadingky.

"I'll avoid it if I can, they might just pick for me" he says.

"Nah, you'll get a say don't worry" a familiar voice chirps in and makes the two, who had wandered off alone somehow, turned to see Viney walking towards them.

Edric grins "I will? Great! No Maulantulas" he says simply and to the point

"Heh, I don't blame you, only a few specific kinds of jobs require actual hands on training with those guys, none of which I see you going for, nah you'll probably get a Teagle or Gryphon" she says.

"Just be careful which one you pick, there's a teagle who is blind and very aggressive when someone approaches unannounced" she continues as they all begin walking again.

"I'll … keep that in mind" Edric says softly.

The day seemed to drag on by and by the time last period came around, Indigo felt exhausted all over again, this class was one they were not looking forward to, they shared this one with Stonic.

Upon entering the room, they saw the group at the back, eyeing them from a safe distance.

Indigo decided to sit with someone today, they checked around the room before noticing Viney's friend Jerbo also had this class, they moved over and quietly asked if they could sit by him.

Jerbo gave a nod, his eyes flickered to the group staring daggers at Indigo and pulled out the chair by him in invitation.

Indigo sits and thanks him quietly.

"No worries, it's not fun being the only one watching your back, at least we can watch each others right?" 

Indigo blinks, this tall guy has to watch his back? 

"Yeh goh eh, Jerbo right?" 

"Yeah, I remember holding Edric back from thos guys not even a week ago, surprised they're back so soon" he says.

"Theh shoul'n beh, Stonic's Da goh em back earleh"

"Ugh flagrant misuse of power, why have a punishment at all if it's gonna be overturned by a bit of cash in someone's hand" Jerbo says and shakes his head angrily.

"Ah noh righ'?" Indigo says.

The class went by without a single event, Indigo felt more confident knowing the one class they shared with that boy, they also shared with someone who had their back.

Edric had been waiting outside the classroom, probably having remembered the two shared a class.

Edric's head lifts as the door opens and kids file out sloewy beside him till Indigo and Jerbo exit, he looks relieved.

"Hey Edric, don't worry, those idiots didn't dare try a thing" Jerbo says as he walks past while Indigo stays in front of Edric, both wave him off.

"He's nice" Indigo observes.

"Yeah"

"He's de one thah 'eld yeh off Stonic righ'?" Indigo asks.

"....Yeah" Edric says and rubs his neck.

Indigo just shrugs "Mus' beh pre'eh strong teh hol' yeh off when yeh thah angreh eh?" 

"What are you getting at?" Edric asks.

"Eh said some'in abou' us wa'chin' eacho'ers backs, whah's eh worried 'bouh ef eh's thah strong?" 

"Holding someone back and defending yourself from attack are two very different scenario's Indie, not everyone can handle both" Edric responds softly.

Indigo's ears flick down, they'd have to keep an eye on Jerbo to be sure he was safe from attacks.

"You coming? Gus told us earlier that you two got called by Bump as well" Edric says.

"Oh yeh, Ah wonder whah eh wan's wih us" Indigo says and moves to catch up as Edric turns to head down the corridor.

"Dunno, we'll see when we get there" 

-At Bumps Office-

Gus swings his feet off the chair as he sits by Emira and waits for the other two to get here.

Once the two arrive, everyone stands by the door and Edric knocks.

"Ah, come in the four of you!" Bump calls through the door.

All four kids walk into the room, all a little confused.

"Do not be alarmed, none of you are in any trouble, I can assure you, this is a good thing" Bump says and stands, clasping his hands.

All four visibly relax.

"Now if you would all kindly follow me" Bump says and carefully draws a portal, which seems to lead to a darkened room.

The four stepped forward after Bump steps through.

Indigo goes through first, carefully surveying the area before nodding to the others that it was safe.

The other three hop through and the portal closes away as lights start to float around them and light up the area.

The room appeared to be a large stadium like arena, two podiums stood on each side of the large area which was surrounded by large bleachers meant for large crowds, similar to a circus.

Bump watches the kids looking around with a smile before clearing his throat.

"It has come to my attention, that one of you has a particular… idea, for an event correct?"

Gus seems to perk up at this.

"So, why dont we see how it holds up… on a larger scale?" Bump asks and Gus gasps with sparkling eyes as Bump waves a finger and a poster falls into his hands, the other three lean down to see a silluette of four people and the words.

"COME ONE AND ALL   
TO THE NEWEST  
EVENT OF HEXIDE

ILLUSIONIST'S BATTLE!"

Gus lets out a happy squee.

Indigo felt the happiness practically pouring from the little guy and felt its effects becoming contagious as they also grinned from ear to ear.

"Well? What do you all think?" Bump asks.

"Wait… all of us?" Edric looks up in questions.

"You are all top students in Hexide for Illusions, it only makes sense don't you think? Four is the strongest number to a witch, four elements, four seasons, four main directions of the compass"

Gus was standing there looking teary eyed at the poster.

Edric and Emira were looking at each other in silence for a moment.

Indigo looks at how happy Gus looks, they would understand if the twins decided not to go for it, but they wanted Gus to be happy and if this made him that happy, they'd be glad to be a part of it with him.

"Yeh can coun' meh en" Indigo says and steps forward beside Gus, who looks up at them with the same happy tears.

"Yeah" "Us too" Emira and Edric step up beside Gus on his other side and grin down as the ecstatic kid basically bounces on his feet in excitement.

"Then it is settled, but you will need a name for the four of you, something catchy" Bump says "A catchy name brings more interest"

The four look at each other and begin to think carefully.

"I'll leave you to it then, do tell me when you are ready to begin the preparations" Bump says as he invites them through a portal, watching them bound off with the enthusiasm of fresh faced students who've just picked their favourite track.

Bump chuckles and looks around at the arena.

"This will definately be interesting, being able to fulfil An Illusionists Dream…. Let us see how things fly from here"

Gus is like a gittery little puppy as he bounces along towards the school entrance, unable to contain his excitement.

Indigo walks behind him with a smile on their face.

The twins talk quietly together behind the other two.

The entrance is in view and so are Luz and Willow, who spot the excited Gus and come jogging over.

"What did he say? What's happening?" Luz asks quickly.

"You remember the Illusionists battle me and Indigo had before the castle?" Gus asks.

"Yeeeeaaaah" the two say in unison.

"Well Bump wants us to do it again, BUT BIGGER! He got us an entire STADIUM! Look!" He hands them the poster.

Luz and Willow look at the poster and after a minute their eyes light up.

"Wow Gus! That's amazing!"

"Yeah! When is it gonna happen?" Willow adds.

"We aren't sure yet, all four of us are like… a team I guess, so we need to think up a name, something catchy!"

"Four… four…. Fooouuuur musketeers?" Luz tries.

"Nuhuh"

"Four… bronkos?" 

"Noooo"

"Four…. Horsemen!"

The four pause and think about it.

"That… has a nice ring to it, where did you get that from?"

"Well on earth there's this myth that when the four horsemen of the apocalypse ride, the world will end"

"....Coool!"

"So shall we be the four horsemen?" Emira asks and looks down at Gus, who seems surprised.

"Wha… Me?" He asks.

"Yeah, this was all your idea wasn't it? So you get to be the final say" Edric adds.

Gus went all teary eyed again.

"You guys are the best!" He sniffles and wipes his tears away as the three grin at each other and look back at him.

"Yeah! Lets be the Four Horsemen!" Gus says and pumps a fist in the air, the others do it too.

"We will need some stylish outfits of course!" Emira says and Edric nods thoughtfully.

"Shopping?"

"Shopping!"

Indigo looks between them uncertainly, they hadn't gone "Shopping" before, they mostly stuck to the Owl House and school.

Ed and Em insisted on covering all the costs, just ushering the two into shops in an attempt to find something both "stylish" and "awe inspiring"

Gus found his suit pretty fast, a sharp light blue tuxedo with a black shirt and golden bow tie, he looked so pleased with it and Emira and Edric told him he looked super sharp, so much so that they had to stay away or they'd get cut.

Gus had laughed for ten minutes straight as they headed towards another store, aimed more at the others sizes.

Edric and Emira split off as Gus waited on a chair that normally the young witches sat at waiting for their parents, he even got offered a hollypop which he gladly accepted.

Indigo just kind of stood where thw two had split off, they had no idea what to look for, it seemed split between conpletly masculine and completly femanine, why wasnt there an inbetween option for someone like them.

Soon Emira came back, complaining that all the dresses were too "Fru-Fru" and headed towards the masculine side.

Indigo immediately followed her, glad to have any kind of guidance, even if it was just someone picking a different style.

"Hmm, lets see, aha! Now this looks more my style" Emira says and heads off again, Indigo found themselves lost pretty quickly trying to keep up, looking around for the two, wait… where even were they in this abnormally large shop.

Indigo keeps walking and listening for their voices, getting worried when they hear neither of the two after a few isles of nothing but clothing.

"Weirdo? What are you doing in here?" Came a familiar voice, Indigo turns and looks relieved.

Edric and Emira had met up near the shirt section and were busy talking away, not noticing a familiar face duck in and grab a few shirts before ducking away again unseen.

After about ten minutes the twins had their definately not identical suits picked out, Emira was in a gorgeous blue blouse with a v-neck to accommadate the silk black tie she wore, along with jet back dress pants.

Edric had picked a silk dark green dress shirt with a black bow tie, dark grey pants and a black belt.

The two began looking around, they had been sure Indigo hadn't been far away from them, the two began to panic a bit, having basically lost their friend/they-friend in the huge store.

The two headed for the front of the store to ask the clerk if she had seen anything, but when they got there, they found Indigo standing there as Gus marveled at their outfit.

Indigo stood in a deep purple shirt, accented with marbled blue and red designs along the body and down the long sleeves, which hung uncuffed against their wrists, they had a sleek black tie which seemed a lot longer than needed, they sported dark navy dress pants and a nice golden belt, when they turned as they felt the two's relief, the two saw at least two of their shirt buttons unbuttoned.

Emira had to steady Edric as he nearly toppled over at the sight of them smiling brightly at the two.

"Ah foun' mah outfih" they say cheerfully.

Edric turns to make a shrill noise into Emira's shoulder.

Indigo looks confused for a moment before Emira clarifies.

"He likes it alot, too much to say anything" she says sweetly and ushers Edric along so they could pay for their own outfits.

"Why not go get changed so we can pay for those for you" Emira adds on their way past.

Indigo nods and the delighted smile is back in an instant

"Okeh!"

Emira watches them run off to the changing rooms.

Edric lifts his head from his hands once they are out of sight.

"You're never gonna let me live this down are you?" He asks quietly.

"I mean your gay panickimg over someone you're supposedly already…. A "thing" with so, nah I don't think so, although I will admit, they look very good in that shirt, especially with the buttons…"

"Stop!" Edric says quickly and covers his face again as Emira laughs hysterically as his ears turn bright red.

"Imagine if they wore a varsity jacket, I think I still have one in my closet"

"Are you trying to kill me?" Edric asks.

Gus stood there watching the two banter with childish ignorance, just smiling and laughing along with Emira.

Indigo returns with their outfit folded neatly, as if one of the staff had done it for them.

"Alright, let's pay and head off, I'd call this a success you guys!" Emira says.

When Emira moved to go pay for the clothes, Indigo walked over to Edric.

"Yeh okaeh? Yeh were realeh reh earlieh" they ask innocently.

Edric ears go red but he clears his throat and stands.

"Fine! Perfect! Couldn't be better!" He says with a grin.

One of Indigo's ear twitched and Edric knew they didn't believe him.

"I was… surprised is all" 

"Wheh?" 

"Well… uh… you… um, it really suits you" Edric manages quietly, feeling his ears flush red.

Indigo gave a soft smile to the poor blushing boy.

"Thank yeh Ed" they said softly and headed over to Emira, who waved them all over.

Edric sighs and hangs his head a bit, glancing up a bit at a nudge. There stood Gus, with thumbs up.

"You did great!" He whispers before hurrying off towards the two waiting for them.

Edric gave a soft chuckle at the younger boy's praise and followed him slowly.

Once the four got back to the Owl House, Eda immediately wanted to see them in their outfits, but Emira declines.

"We have to keeo them fresh for the first one!" She argues and refuses to let Eda grab the bag.

"Ugh, your no fuuuuun" Eda says and folds her arms with a smirk "But bravo going for somrthing like this, your parents definately wont approve, but Me and Lilly.."

"Lilly and I" Lillith corrects from the couch.

"Whatever, WE will be there to keep tabs on the sitch"

The group nods.

"Man I cant wait to tell my Dad! He's gonna be so pumped!" Gus says and hugs his poster gleefully.

"Hah, he better be dweebus, it's not every day your kid gets to be the star of his own kick starting sport, c'mon, I'll even give ya a ride home and YES Lilly I will be "discreet" about it" Eda says before Lillith can finish forming the word "Eda" 

Lillith closes her mouth but nods once in agreement to the statement.

"So what goofy name did you come up with to draw in a crowd?" Eda asks as she goes to fetch Owlbert and her staff.

"The Four Horsemen" Gus says proudly.

"Huh, nice ring to it actually, sounds familiar"

"Its a human thing!" Gus says sounding more enthusiastic by the second.

"Ah, its probably in one of those old books of mine then"

Everyone soon splits off to do their own thing.

Emira goes to preserve the intergrety of the outfits they bought for their first game.

Luz goes to the Library for "Azura bookclub" with Amity as usual for this time.

Willow decided to head on home with Gus at Eda's offer 

Which left Edric standing alone in the Owl House with Indigo and Lillith, though there wasnt much anamosity from Indigo, it was obvious the two werent exactly opening up to one another just yet.

"So, Indie what would you like to do?" Edric says quietly.

Indigo glances over at Edric and after a moment they just shrug "Dunnuh" they reply.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Ed offers softly.

"Sure!" They say and move over to him.

Edric smiles and gives a quick glance back at Lillith, who looks at them for a moment before returning her eyes to the book she was reading in silence.

Edric led the way out of the Owl House.

"So why did yeh realleh wan' meh ou' 'ere" Indigo asks as they walk beside him, keeping steady pace.

Edric sighs, he knew they'd pick up on that.

"I just wanted to… talk about some stuff"

"Whah stuff?" Indigo asks curiously.

"Uh… well mostly about you, how you're feeling and such" Edric.

"Am fine" Indigo says.

"No i meant like, In general, not just right now, You were out cold for most of lunch, you had to deal with Stonic's… presence and all that came with it, now we're doing this big show presumably after school or on weekends… isnt all this…. Adding up?" He asks softly, glancing at their neutral expression and wishing for just a moment that he had their powers so he could be sure of how they felt.

Indigo opened their mouth to speak, but closed it again after a few seconds.

"Am fine, ah can handle thah stuff" they repeated.

"I didnt ask if you could handle it Indie" Edric says.

"Ah know" Indigo says as they avert their eyes from Edric's eyes, they had hoped assuring him would be enough, but it seemed he knew them well enough not to fall for that.

"Ah was up las' nigh' wih Luz, sheh's still upseh thah sheh can'eh go home, ah can'eh sleep when anyone's upseh, so ah wen' teh cheer 'er up, so weh only realleh goh a few hours ah sleep ah mos'. Stonic bein' back…. Isn' de bes' news tehdeh buh ah can han'le thah wih help, de illusion ba'le? Thah seems like fun! Ah knoh es more time buh its noh a bad thin'" Indigo says softly

"Is that becaude Gus is super happy about it?" Edric asks with a raised brow.

"Maybeh" Indigo says with a side glance away "Buh ah did enjoeh eh when Ah did one wih 'im" they add.

"Alright well, if things are starting to add up, you know you can speak up about it, right?" Edric asks softly.

"Yeh ah knoh"

"You dont have to handle everything"

"Well…"

"Just because you CAN, doesnt mean you SHOULD" Edric adds.

Indigo lets out a breath and glances at Edric attempt at a stern face, which just led to them giggling and looking away.

"Whats so funny?" He asks.

"Yer tryin' teh be so serious buh yeh just look grumpeh" Indigo says from behind their hand.

Edric frowns "Indie come on! I am being serious"

"Then couldja inform yer face?" They ask jokingly as Edric scoffs in mock offence.

"How bout i tell YOUR face!" He says and tries to grab them, missing as they duck away and laugh, trotting away as Edric follows them.

After a short chase the two calm their laughter and continue their walk together, a comfortable silence follow as they just observe the world around them.

"So, you still want to… be a thing?" Edric asks.

Indigo chuckles softly and looks him in the eye, winking as they spoke to make sure he understood the following words werw in fact in jest.

"Naaaah, ah think ah'll beh a thing wih yer pal Jerbo" they say in an exagherated tone of voice.

Edric snorts "A whole class together and he's already stolen you from me, curses! He must be a fine gentleman to have won your heart so fast" he says just as dramatically feigning heartbreak.

Indigo laughs before straightwning up with a smile.

"Of course I still want to" they said, being deliberately clear.

Edric feels his ears flush and he looks down for a second, before his eyes fl8cker to theirs again.

"Me too"

'Bah de way, Emiea tol' me bout yer paren's wan'in' yeh teh hos' some kinda ball?" Indigo asks sofrly.

"In 2 weeks yeah, ugh, its supposed to be for our birthday, but its never ON our birthday, its really for the Blood moon that happens that night, our birthday is the next weekend, but, as usual, we have tp work around their schedule so they can "be there for our birthday" he says in air quites "They just want an excuae to throw a party that we cant really argue against"

"Di' yeh tell Eda?" Indigo asks softly.

"Yeah, but they arent really breaking any of the rules, they're just throwing our birthday party parly" 

"Buh eh bo'hers yeh" Indigo says in concern.

"A little but… we're used to our birthdays never being… ours, i guess" Edric says with a shrug.

Indigo frowns and looks down at the ground.

"So yeh can'eh stop em throwin' de pr'eh, buh they can'eh stop yeh invi'in' yer friends eider" Indigo says.

Edrics ears rose a bit as he thought about that "Thats true, although mom and Dad seem to approve of you already so your a safe bet to get invited, Hmm, I eonder if Emira wants to invite Viney"

"Es noh a hard guess es eh?" Indigo asks with a raised brow.

"Heh, but to be honest, there wont be much to do, its never a real birthday party, the music sucks, the food is all so classy and everyone is always too worried about getting their suits dirty to even eat it most of the time, its just…."

"Borin'?" Indigo asks.

"Yeah, honestly I was looking forward to Grom more than I was this party, atleast then I might have actually had fun… if my date had actually shown up" 

Indigo felt an immediate shift in Edric's mind and stopped walking.

"What happened?" They ask softly.

"What? Oh, at Grom? I… got stood up, no big deal" Edric says quickly, trying to put on a smile.

"No, somethin' happened, whah happened?".

"Uh… Luz and Amity fought Gromethus?" 

"Edric!"

"Alright fine! So I had a panic attack over being all alone! Big deal!" Edric snaps "No one saw it and I'm fine now so just drop it!" 

Edric immediately regrets snapping as Indigo takes a few steps back.

"No, no dont go I'm- I'm sorry please" Edric says and reaches out for them slowly.

Indigo stops moving away, lookimg at his hand reaching for them.

"Yeh though Ah'd thin' less oh yeh fer thah?" They ask quietly, ears down.

"I…. I didn't want to seem so weak and helpless… you always think I'm brave but I'm just not…. Being alone… it scares me so much… but I know I can't show it, if I show it then… then everyone will think I'm just some coward! I told someone … about my panic attack … they hang it over me all the time and no one even knows whats going on"

"Eh's Stonic isn' eh?" Indigo asks softly.

"Yes… I thought we were actually friends back then, turns out he just wanted blackmail material on me" Edric says and kicks a rock into the underbrush.

"Yeh been keepin' thah a secreh fer a while huh?" Indigo asks softly.

"Yeah, since Grom, I just wanted to forget about it…. " 

"Thah won' 'elp yeh know"

"Yeah, yeah I know but… I didnt have you to talk to back then, even when you were here, I didn't know how to say about it… so I just kept it to myself"

"Yeh had aneh since Grom?" 

"... One" 

"When"

"After you ran off into the forest from the palismens, before I went to get Luz and Amity… it wasn't a bad one, only a few seconds" he says quietly.

Indigo's ears dipped immediately.

"But I'm okay! You don't have to worry about me! I know I'm not alone anymore, I have my sisters, Eda, You…" Edric says quietly.

"Alrigh' ah won' worry abou' eh ef yeh promise meh thah ef eh happens again, yeh will tell meh bou' eh" Indigo says "Ah don' wanna beh de reason yer scared Ed" they add quietly.

Edric looks down at the ground for a moment.

"I promise, if it happens again, I will tell you, but what are the chances of it happening again?"

Indigo sighs softly "non-exis'an' while am aroun'" they say and move quickly to enclose Edric in a tight hug.

Edric is caught off-guard at first as the air is pressed out of him, before taking a breath and hugging them back just as tightly.

"Am noh goin' anehwheh" Indigo says softly.

"Well ain't that so cute boys? They just made our job even easier" came a voice from the underbrush before vines shot out from it and entabgled the two together.

Indigo lets out a yelp, they hadnt felt anything around them at all.

Edric gasps as the vines crush the two together ans make breathing a lot harder than it already was.

A group of witches emerge from the brush, all with the same kind of hood on.

"You like Empath?" Its a Feeling Shroud, it stops the likes eh you sensin us" the tallest man says with glee.

Indigo seems to be in fully panic now, trying to thrash their way out of the binding vines, but every thrash only ended in the two of them getting more tangled in them.

"Indigo stop!" Edric says desperately, running out of breath.

Indigo halts, panting hard, looking him in the eye, he could see their panic.

"Its okay… calm down" he says and puts his forehead to theirs gently.

"Hehehe, told yeh we needed the boy boss" one of the lackeys snickers quietly.

"Good call boyo, lets haul em in" The leader says and the vines begin to pull the two in, causing their feet to drag behind them as they both tried to stop it.

"Don't bother fighting Empath, if you don't behave, we'll just have to make your little friend here suffer for it" the leader says and leans over the two, pointing a long dagger towards Edric, who freezes up.

Indigo doesn't move or speak, keeping their eyes set on the man, they had no idea what his intent was and therefore they did nothing.

The man smirks "Good, lets go!" He calls and the group starts walking, the vines continue to pull the two along.

Indigo can feel Edric shaking against them and figets a hand closer to take his calmingly.

Edric looks them in the eye.

"What do we do?" He asks quietly.

Indigo doesn't reply right away, just keeping their eyes on Edric's until a snapping sounded and Edric was flung free with help from Indigo's hand gripping his tightly, before letting go so he ended up flying off.

"Fly! Tell them..." Indigo's voice says before cutting off quickly.

Edric, while still falling, fl8cks his hood up and transforms rapidly, his half form flying frantically towards the Owl House, fear kept him going at full speed until he crashes into the hiuse, Hooty had had the sense to open the door when he saw the panicked Wolfbat boy chatging towards him.

"Eda! Eda!" He yells desperately.

Lilliyh had stood immediately when the boy came crashing in yelling for her sister.

"What is if? What happened?" She asks sharply, noticing the boys obvious distress.

"They took them, they have Indigo!" 

"Alright, calm down, Edalyn is still out right now, we mustn't panic"

"Indie cant sense them, they know about Indie being an empath! They had these Feeling Shrouds or something"

"That… is not good…" Lillith says quietly.

"What do we do?!" Edric asks desperately.

"We? No, I shall attempt to track them down, YOU must stay here and inform Eda of what has happened, perhaps she knows more of these people" Lillith says and summons her staff.

"But… I can help!"

"No! The moment you appear again they will use Indigo to get you, if yhey have you, they can control Indigo, if they can control Indigo… then there is no hope of their freedom" Lillith says seriously.

Edric feels icy cold hands grip at his heart.

"What?" 

"You are bonded with Indigo, if you hadnt escaped, there would not have been anything we could have done, Indigo would protrct you above even themselves, an empath is a powerful asset to whomever these people are, you cannot allow yourself to be captured, at any cost!" Lillith says sharply.

"Hooty! This is a code Bounty, this boy doesnt leave thid house unoess Eda says so and no one but her and Luz enter. Understand!" Lillith barks and Hooty opens the door to reply.

"You got it! Hoot hoot!" He replies closes all his windows and doors immediately.

Lillith walks to the door, looking back at the distraut boy.

"This is for your own good" she assures, before heading out of the door as it coses tightly behind her and locks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me.


	21. Bane of an Empath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone does their best to be calm.

Indigo didn't dare open their eyes, or move, aside from the slow careful breaths they released to emulate being knocked out, as soon as Edric had left the bindings the Leader had struck them on the head, assuming he had rendered them unconcious, they knew their hands and feet were not bound, but that didn't mean they could run.

Indigo had to stay calm, the slow breathing helped, but what didn't help was the agonising pit of emotions they had been left in, all around them, creatures were suffering, caged and afraid, it felt like Indigo's insides were eating themselves alive, those people knew how to keep an Empath contained clearly.

Voices, not far away, angry ones, the sound of metal against metal, jangling of keys, yelping.

Indigo stayed perfectly still even as their mind raced at the possibility that they had Edric again.

A voice booms around the area "what do you mean you're not sure?! We have to be sure, if we aren't sure then they will know!" 

A more timid voice speaks up.

"Sir we dont even know what method the boy used to transform, it could have just been an illusion for all we know" it says quietly.

"You find him and you find him yeaterday!" The louder voice booms in reply.

"Y-Yessir!" Came tye less than enthusiastic reply.

Loud footsteps came close before stopping close by, a grunt followed before more footsteps began a path away, several more metal clangs against metal, then nothing but silence.

"Can anyone hear me?" Indigo reaches out with telepathy, very distinctly not allowing these horrible men to hear it.

No reply.

"Make a noise, anything, something small, please" 

Still nothing.

Indigo lete out a shaky breath, just one, then it was back to the slow breathing again.

"They don't have you Edric, good, but if you can hear this somehow, don't come for me, not this time, they'll use you against me" Indigo continues to speak to nothingness, if only to keep themselves from crumbling and breaking down.

Edric had done everything in his power to try and leave the Owl House, Hooty simply started talking if he tried to persuade him to let him out, Edric quickly lost his patience and tried to break a window which did nothing as Hooty would know immediately and promptly pop up in front of it to scold him and then somehow…. Fix it?

Edric soon sat on the couch, head in his hands as his mind raced to all the possibilities of what could be happening to Indigo at that very moment while he was "safe" in the Owl House, he couldn't stand it… wait… his scroll!

Edric summons his scroll and dials Emira quickly, but she doesn't answer, Edric shakes as he tries Amity, she also wasn't answering, both probably thought he just wanted to pester them about what they were doing or annoy them a bit.

Edric tried Amity again and again, if Luz came back maybe he could trick the bird!

"Edric for pete's sake could you stop…!"

"Amity listen Indigo got kidnapped and I'm stuck in the Owl House and Lillith is off trying to find her and Eda isn't back and Hooty won't shut up and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop, Indigo got kidnapped!?" Amity's voice goes high with shock.

"Yes! I need Luz to come back! I need to go find her, now!"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds before Luz's muffled voice sounds quietly, Amity's followed just as quietly.

"Guys!" Edric calls through the scroll.

"Edric stay where you are, we're coming okay? Just… stay there" Amity says softly, as if reassuring a child.

"I told you the damn house demon is keeping me here!" Edric says desperately.

"Okay Ed, okay, just stay calm, it's gonna be alright"

"I'm not a child in your bookclub Amity stop talking to me like that!" Edric said, before realising just how emotional he sounded with those words.

"Okay… okay, do you want me to stay on the scroll with you?" 

Edric lets out a frustrated yell and hangs up the call, tossing the scroll away angrily.

"I'm not weak! I'm not! Just because everyone thinks I am doesn't mean I am!" Edric says and walks rapidly back and forth in front of the couch, he needed to move, if he stopped, alone with his thoughts…

"Not weak, not scared, not…. N-not" Edric felt his breath catch and knew where this would head, he needed to control his breathing.

A gasp followed the catch as he tried to get back the air he lost, another and another followed, it wasn't enough, his body demanded more air, he needed more air! The gasps got more and more desperate until he was leaning against the couch, mouth wide as he gasped for air.

Hooty was speaking, what else was new, someone else was speaking, a voice beside him, but he needed to breathe.

"Kid! Kid come on, snap outta it! Hey!"

A pair of hands grab his shoulders, his eyes lock onto a pale face with different coloured eyes, a mane of greyish hair and a snaggletooth.

"Kid breathe dammit!" Eda yells at the young boy as she shook him a bit, his breathing was coming in erratic gasps.

Eda knew a panic attack when she saw one, she needed his attention on her.

"Come on kid, get outta that head and focus on me!" She says loudly, locking eyes with his unfocused ones until she saw them move to look directly at hers.

"There, I gotcha, now c'mon kid, slow that breathing down, I know it's hard, but you gotta take a big long breath and let it out slowly" she says and proceeds to show him, taking a long deep breath in.

Edric tries and with a little success, though it hitches a few times in the process, he manages a deep breath in and out.

"There ya go kid, you got this, it's alright, I gotchu okay? Keep going" Eda says and continues to breathe with Edric until he is doing it well enough on his own for her to keep speaking.

"You're okay kid, its okay, a lot of people have this happen to them, even I've had one or two of em when I was young"

Edric's eyes widened, Eda the Owl Lady had these too? The bravest person he knew?

"I know right, me of all people, but it's something that can catch us off guard, especially if something big just happened or something we were emotionally invested in, do you wanna tell me what happened?"

Edrics breath hitches and Eda is quick to catch him again.

"Easy, easy, don't fall back on me kid, it's okay, cmere, I gotchu" Eda pulls the distraught boy into a hug, holding him till he stopped needing the long breaths again.

"It'll be easier to write it down than speak right now, here"

Eda passes him his previously chucked scroll.

"Type it out for me," Eda says gently.

Edric takes the scroll and opens something that lets him type and begins frantically tapping at the keys, Eda reads as he types and soon her eyes are wide.

"Alright kid, I can't leave you alone like this, Hooty wouldn't be much help, hang on" Eda begins fishing in her hair before pulling out King, who opens his eyes at being plucked from his slumbering nest, literally.

"King, this kid needs comfort and cuddles, we need your cuddliest minions for this mission!" Eda says and King snaps awake, looking at Edric and back at Eda with determination.

"We will cuddle him to death!" He proclaims and hops off upstairs to retrieve his minions.

Edric watches the weird little demon run off before looking at Eda, who stayed there and watched for King to come back.

"Will they be okay?" He asks in a quiet voice.

Eda turns an eye towards him.

"I'll make sure of it kid, you just stay calm alright? I don't wanna bring em back here to another one of those" 

Edric nods quickly.

"Good, you're a sweet kid, I know given the choice you'd be out there already trying to save them, heck last time you were ahead of me! But if Lily thinks you're in danger if you go, then chances are she's right, don't tell her i said that though, she'll never let me live it down" Eda says and smiles when Edric manages a small laugh even with those worried golden eyes.

King came back with a huge pile of toys tumbling ahead of him.

"The cuddliest patrol ever!" He says and begins piling them on top of Edric and once out of toys he jumps on him himself, making Edric laugh a bit as he proclaims 

"Victory for cuddles!" 

Eda nods and stands "Alright, I'm going, King, he needs to be calm, if he starts to gasp, you know what to do" 

"You got it," King says and pulls a thumbs up.

Eda exits the Owl House and mounts her staff, but she doesn't fly in the stated direction, if she knew anything about Empaths, it was how close familial ties were, if Indigo was in danger, her best bet to find them was currently dwelling in the Cave of Emotions.

Eda lands before the cave, fishing in her pocket for one of those light glyphs, entering the darkness and tapping it.

"Alrighty, now I just gotta find them"

After only a few seconds, a loud yell echos through the cave and the sound of footsteps comes crashing all around her.

"Ah, perfect" Eda says and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"What happened?!" Came a loud and angry voice from somewhere far off.

"Wouldja hurry up and get over here?" Eda called back and the crashing footsteps continued until two outlines were coming into view.

"Alright slow do… stop stop stop!" Eda says before being crashed into by two larger people.

"What happened? Why do I feel them in such distress?! What is going on?!" Came Ferirs internal voice, baraging Eda's mind with question after question as Sabrė asks more out loud.

"Quiet!" Eda says quickly and loudly.

The two cease their noise.

"The kid was taken, we don't know by who, we know they know the kid is an empath, they had the shrouds, the kid sent Edric away so they couldn't be controlled, Edric is at my house after having a panic attack, my sister is currently out scouring for them, what do you feel and where is it leading you?" Eda says quickly and efficiently.

Ferir's eyes widen before narrowing dangerously.

"Where is Mollus?" 

"The bird palismen? Most likely at the Owl House, it is your palismen, can you call it?" Eda asks.

Ferir narrows their eyes and lifts a hand to their mouth, sending a shrill whistle through the air, it echoes all through the cave.

It took 2 minutes for the white palismen to fly through the light around them and land diligently on Ferir's shoulder.

"Find them Mollus, they are in danger" Ferir orders out loud.

Mollus shrieks and opens their wings, shooting off.

Both Ferir and Sabrė transform with their hoods, Sabrė pauses to allow Eda on their back.

"I think I'll stick to my staff thanks" Eda says and waves them on so she could find the exit.

Sabrė nods and continues after Ferir.

Lillith soars over the forest in search of this group of thugs, she had an inkling of who they might be but she would have to see them face to face to know for sure, plus her magic was severely dwindled, yes she could technically defend herself but winning a fight alone would be a considerable stretch, though even if she were captured, Indigo had no bond with her, she could not be used as leverage.

Something caught Lillith's eye and she ducks down into the forest, drag marks, like two people had dug their feet in against something pulling them.

"Smart kids, now I know the direction" she murmurs to herself and keeps moving, finding the area of a scuffle, like a rapid movement had disturbed the dirt.

"This must be where Indigo freed Edric" she observes before noting something, a small little droplet of blood, almost set too perfectly on the stone, as if someone did it on purpose.

"You clever, clever empath, you knew who was coming for you first" Lillith says, carefully casting a spell to capture the droplet in a small bottle she always kept on her person.

"Not much to go on, but still enough for a short range tracking spell" Lillith says and casts a circle around the blood in the bottle, it rises from the bottle, falling back to the stone, then kind of jumps up as the magical image of Indigo laying on the ground is formed, their finger being where the droplet fell from, before seemingly falling unconscious, their body is then lifted by something and taken off.

Lillith follows the image, carefully, watching out for any more ruffians.

Every so often the image would flicker out, due to the small amount of blood, which meant Lillith had to find the droplet again and recast the spell, it took much longer than she wanted, but given the amount of twists and turns they had already taken, these people know who they were dealing with.

At last, the image led Lillith to a crevice in a bone jutting out from the surface, Lillith cancels the spell so it doesn't give her away.

The sound of wings flapping made Lillith look up as two large animal figures were heading straight for her.

Then Lillith saw the telltale grey hair of her sister, she waves and gets their attention quickly.

The three land quickly.

"Lilly, what are we dealing with here?" Eda asks quickly.

The Wrath couple looked very standoffish as they stood before Lillith, the one who had captured them, but they weren't here for her right now.

"Best I can tell is they are professionals, could have been sent by Bellos himself or simply bribed with reward money by him, I can't be sure, Indigo left me a drop of blood to track" Lillith explains calmly.

"Hah! I taught them that!" Eda says, getting sidetracked with pride that one of her old pieces of advice was actually heeded by the kid.

The Wrath couple looks at Eda expectantly.

"Oh right right, the method seemed far to inelegant for Bellos, I'm gonna call this third party work, he could have bribed them for sure, from what the kid said they had only guessed Eddy was someone they bonded with, so they don't know who might or might not be bonded with them"

"Dis 'elps us 'ow?" Ferir asks sharply.

"Because if they don't know, they'll assume ANYONE who comes for the child is a bondee, which means we have a prime way to distract them" Lillith says, picking up on Edalyn's idea immediately.

"Exactly Lilly, Couldn't have said it better myself" Eda says "Now go distract them" 

Lillith pauses for a moment, before frowning.

"You want me to just walk on in there?" 

"Yes! They don't know you don't have magic! Remember? They'll all be focused on you! They also can't be sure that you are not bonded with the kid" Eda says quickly.

Lillith pinches the bridge of her nose tightly and sighs.

"And what exactly will you be doing as I do this?"

"Rescuing the kid of course!" Eda says as if it is obvious

"How Edalyn?, you have NO magic!"

"You know I never needed magic to pick pockets right? All I need is the key to where they are holding the kid"

"What if all this goes wrong? Then what do we do?"

"Thats where these two come on, they come flying in in these forms, I guarantee those idiots will prioritise the angry vicious beasts attacking them over the fleeing witches" Eda says.

Lillith sighs heavily.

"This is… very typical of you Edalyn, but it isn't the worst plan I've heard come from you" she admits before turning to the Wrath couple.

The Wrath's stare back at Lillith for a moment "If you can save our child, consider our past forgotten" Ferir says simply.

Lillith blinks and for a moment she felt a kind of relief in her heart before nodding and heading for the entrance.

Eda looks at Ferir "You sure know how to motivate someone huh?" She asks with a grin.

Ferir glances at Sabrė then back at Eda.

"If one should risk their own life for our child, then it is worth letting go of any grudge we hold"

Eda nods slowly "Glad to hear it"

Back at the Owl House, Edric was watching King march back and forth on the table, talking about toxic masculinity and how he shouldn't allow it to bother him.

"For example, I happen to LOVE a mannipede, or whatever its called, Luz sparkles up my claws and feet with this cool glittery stuff she calls nail polish! I will always be the most fabulous King of Demons after one of those, oooh we should do one for you! My trusted steed!" King says and pumps a fist in the air before hopping off the table.

"Be sure to cuddle those minions and keep pulling and pushing air, I'll be right back!" King calls as he ascends the stairway.

Edric looks down at his lap full of toys and picks up a cute teddy bear, hugging it.

King returns after a minute with small glass like bottles full of colors.

Edric blinks at King as he starts setting them out.

"Alright trusty steed! Which colour are we using?" He asks in excitement.

Edric chuckles a bit at the skull dog's excitement before glancing at the bottles, in all honesty, he liked the golden colour and moved to pick it up.

"This one?" He asks.

"Excellent choice, it will bring out the fierceness of your eyes!" King applauds and takes the bottle.

"Alright, first hand!" He says and makes grabby hands as he sits at the table after pushing the other colours aside.

Edric blinks and presents the hand not cuddling one of King's minions.

"Let's do this!" King says before flicking a leg over the other, taking the presented hand gently and resting it on his tiny knee before unscrewing the bottle and beginning his work.

"So Luz says you're on the Beast-Keeping track now? How's that going for you?" King asks as he begins with the first nail daintily.

Edric blinks and thinks about class.

"It… went good! I already knew Viney and everyone else is pretty cool too, not many of them mind that I'm multitracking either, I don't have a beast to keep yet but I will soon I hope"

"Good! If you ever want demon lessons, better come to me though, those weird books at school got it all twisted around" King says as he finishes the second nail just as neatly.

"I will" Ed replies, focusing on how King vosted his nails in the nice golden colour.

"Ah, you see, look how fierce these claws are, just as fierce as they are fabulous, heck, I bet no other guy in your school had the guts to paint their nails, so who's the brave one, huh? The idiots who stick to the "norm" or the kid who goes against it" King asks with passion.

Edric gives a half smile at King's speech as he finishes Edric's hand and sets it to the side to dry.

"Minion you are dismissed, I require my steeds other claws!" King said and pointed to the stuffed bear, Edric set it in his lap and offered King his other hand.

Hooty opens the door quietly, the two didn't even notice he was so quiet about it, Luz and Amity, who Luz had vouched to be the real Amity, who then vouched for herself threateningly with her fist till Hooty believed her, walked in slowly, looking at Ed watching King painted his nail in utter fascination.

Luz made the cutest face and gently tugs Amity forwards, walking around the table and sitting on one side of Edric, being sure not to step on or sit on any plushies, admiring King's work.

Amity sits by her brothers other side and watches King meticulously painting his final nail, setting the hand aside and tapping the other one.

"Come on, second coat!" King insists.

Edric gives a shy look at the girls who just smile at him.

"I'm next!" Luz says cheerfully.

"I could use a new coat on mine too," Amity says.

Edric lets out a happy little sound, ducking his head down a bit, no one was making fun of him, no one called him weak or girly, the girls legit wanted to join him.

King gives Edric a triumphant look.

"What did i tell ya?" He asks

Ed sighs softly "It's okay to show your sensitive side" he repeats softly.

"Dang right it is!" King says and Luz cheers too.

"Hey, where is Emira? Does anyone know?" Amity asks.

"She didn't answer her scroll earlier, I'm not sure" Edric explains.

"Lemme try her" Amity says and tries to call Emira, who does answer.

"Mittens? You okay?" Emira says through the scroll.

"Yeah Em, we're okay, we're doing nails, well, King is doing nails" Amity explains.

"Oh cool! What's the occasion?" 

Ed's head lifted a bit, for a moment his eyes went panicked but a small tug at his hand pulled him down to look at King.

"It's okay to not be okay," he says carefully.

Edric nods slowly.

"Indigo was kidnapped, but I can't go save them, so King is… keeping me company, by painting my nails" Edric says, just loud enough to be heard on the phone.

There was a moment of utter silence before Emira spoke again.

"Okay… I'll… be right there, Hey Vin…" the call cuts out.

King gives Edric's hand a pat "You did well my noble steed!" He encourages "But if you require more minions to cuddle! Then have at thee!" He says and, now that his nails were painted, hopped down and started piling more toys onto Edric's lap.

Edric gives a little chuckle, which turns into a small sob as he wipes his eye with a sleeve.

Viney and Emira came gliding towards the Owl House carefully on Puddles, landing a ways off.

"Are you sure you don't need my help this time Em?" Viney asks, grabbing EmIra's shoulder before she's out of reach.

Emira looks back at Viney with a smile.

"It should be okay… I hope, I'll… keep you posted" she says as Viney lets go of her shoulder with a soft look.

"You better," she says as she and Puddles take off again.

Emira heads for the Owl House door, where Hooty was on guard, his eyes locked onto Emira when she appeared from the woods, after watching the griffon fly off from the woods.

"Password!" He screeches.

"I'll beat you like Mittens did if you keep me from my brother for another second" Emira threatens and leers at the bird door.

Hooty gives a quiet "Hoot" and opens the door, letting her in.

Emira walks in to see a huge pile of toys, under which, appeared to be her brother, sister and Luz, with King hanging off Edroc' neck in some kind of hug as her brother cries quietly as he hugs King, the mound of toys, his sister and Luz.

Emira remembers all the times she shamed her brother for crying, for not being "strong" enough or "Blight" enough.

Emira moves forwards slowly to the pile of kids, toys and a demon, stepping over to sit behind the group on the couch and pulls her brother back against her as she hugs his back.

Eda sneaks carefully through the entrance once it was clear Lillith had the attention of whomever was within it, that booming voice was hard to miss.

"How dare you scoundrels kidnap a child! I shall skin you all alive!" Lillith says and brandishes her staff threateningly at the mew all around.

The tallest one chuckles "Well well well, if it ain't Lillith, the FORMER leader of the Emperors coven, come to get your pet back have you? Well tough, we got our orders, that kid is worth a lot of snails to us, but even more if we have someone they're bonded with, so you'll do nicely" he says and raises a hand as more men come scuttling from all over.

Lillith holds her ground, what little magic she did have wouldn't help against such numbers, but perhaps she could intimidate them with it.

"You seem to think leaving Belos has made me weaker, oh how wrong you are" Lillith says, grabbing a fire glyph from her pocket, pretending to cast a subtle circle and summoning the fireball from the glyph.

"By all means, come closer, I'll show you just how powerful I am!" 

The men hesitate, glancing at each other as if hoping someone else would go first.

Lillith spots a telltale mane of grey disappearing into the cages and knew Eda was looking for the kid, she just had to keep them distracted for a little while longer.

Eda looks into every cage, finding many assortments of creatures, muzzled, chained or tied up, 

"Come on kid, where are you?" Eda whispers aloud, hoping for some response, but knowing full well the kid could be unconscious, or too scared to speak.

Whispers…. Soft whispers, someone was quietly calling through all the ruckus on the other side of the space, Indigo didn't dare respond, they had no idea who could be nearby.

Eda sucks in a breath as she spots a fluff of purple hair in a small cage nearby.

"Found you kid, now I just gotta getcha outta that cage you're in" she murmurs, noticing the kid didn't respond as she spoke, they're either legitimately unconscious or doing a hell of a job pretending to be.

Eda? Eda's voice, right by them, but what if it is a trick, stay calm, stay knocked out, Indigo said to themselves.

A second pair of footsteps approaches behind Eda, who turns to see Sabrė approaching.

"What are you doing?! You're supposed to be Lily's backup!" Eda scolds.

"An angry Teagle is more than enough muscle to handle those goons! I need to know they're okay" Sabrė says and presses a hand against the bars of the cage to look in at Indigo.

"My poor child" they whisper.

"Alright, fine, since you're here, help me with this lock… I couldn't get close enough to the big cheese once Lily started to rant"

Sabrė looks at the lock and reaches for it, wrenching it off the cage in one quick snap.

"Whoa, now I see where the kid gets it from, you guys are strong huh?" Eda asks.

Sabrė completely ignored Eda's compliment, pushing the door open to run into the cage and scoop up their child, carefully laying their head against their chest as they held them in their arms.

"My sweet baby" they whisper softly 

A snapping sound, arms around them, lifting them off the cold ground, warm arms, a sound, a heartbeat, so… familiar….

Neither Eda or Sabrė could tell the difference as Indigo fell asleep in Sabrė's arms.

"Alright, lets go!" Eda aays and ushers the brooding parent out of the cage, 

Lillith had already fought off several underlings with just fire, ice and plant magic.

"Hmph, you aren't even worth my time!" Luillith says and turns as she spots Eda and… Sabrė? Running for the exit.

The tallest man bellows something and a whole group of underlings begin to swarm Lillith.

A guttural roar sounds and everyone looks up as a huge Teagle soars through the entrance and lands on a nearby cage, its eyes scan the surroundings.

"Oh sh---" 

The Teagle lets out another roar and dive bomba towards the people, ripping off shrouds were possible and tearing them to pieces, before swiping huge paws at the cages to knock the doors open, systematically releasing as many of the poor creatures as it could while holding off the witches that came crawling to save their merchandise from escaping.

Eda runs to grab Lillith, who had forgotten this was her time to run, watching the spectacle unfold before her.

Once outside, the three headed for the brush as many feral beasts came charging out of the cave after them, scattering in all directions before a huge Teagle emerged and landed, spitting out one last shroud and tearing it apart.

The four begin to fly off, Sabrė had allowed Ferir to hold Indigo as they flew, having a better chance to grip them.

Lillith and Eda took the lead on their staffs, watching for trouble ahead of them.

The journey back to the Owl House was slow but uneventful.

Ferir lands on their hind legs and returns to their own form, holding Indigo tight to their chest for just a moment, testing their foreheads together for a moment before seeing Eda approaching.

"I'd better get them inside, gotta check on Eddy now?" Eda says "If you want you can stay till they wake up" she offers as Ferir politely hands them to Eda after a bit of hesitation.

Sabrė sighs softly "They aren't accustomed to us just yet, it might be best if we head home, with your permission though, we would like to check on them in the morning" 

"Yeah, of course you can come see them. If they wake up before then, I'll let them know what you did for them" Eda says.

"Tank yeh Owl Ladeh" Ferir says "Fer keepin' em safe fer us" 

"Hey, I consider them one of my honorary kids, ain't one messin' with my kids!" Eda says and watched the couple chuckle lightly.

"Glad to hear it, we will be going now" Savrė says politely.

Eda gives a small attempt at a wave, what with Indigo in her arms and all, the kid wasn't exactly small.

Lillith had been watching from afar.

Eda turns to look at Lillith "Thanks Lilly, your help was… appreciated"

Lillith raises a brow "Edalyn Clawthorne thanking ME? , who are you and what did you do with my sister"

Eda snorts "Don't get your stockings in a bunch, I aint making a habit of it" She says as she walks past.

"Ah there she is" Lillith continues with a chuckle as they head inside the Owl House, to be met with the scene of all the young Blights, Luz and King in some kind of cuddle pile.

"Oh goodness, that's adorable" Lillith says and puts a hand to her mouth.

"Yeah, I wonder how long it'll take them to realise we are here" Eda says back, noting that none of them had even looked up when the door had opened.

"It's quite possible they are all asleep" Lillith says quietly "We should leave them be, Indigo isnt awake either, perhaps it would be best to put them in their room for now"

Eda grumbles at being told what to do, but begrudgingly begins climbing the stairs, gently depositing the sleeping empath on their chair as comfortably as she can.

"Gave us all quite a scare kid, no doubt you were scared too though, I'll come check on ya soon"

Eda moves out of the room quietly.

Dowbstairs, the pile of kids started to move, King had unceremoniously dropped onto Edric's lap and startled him, but since he was being kinda smothered by three other people, he couldn't move much.

Upon noticing Lillith in the kitchen, he started "Lillith?! Where's-" 

"Shh!" Lillith says as Edric's voice being so loud starts to rouse the girls.

"Indigo is perfectly safe, they were unconscious, so they are up in their room resting, just calm down, you'll wake your sisters and Luz up" she says in a soothing tone.

Edric looks down at the two girls sleeping on his shoulders, he could feel Emira's arms draped over him too.

"Okay" he croaks softly, letting the relief of knowing Indigo was safe wash over him as he leans back with a sigh.

A few hours had passed, everyone sat downstairs, just waiting to see if Indigo would awaken.

King had resumed nail painting for the girls while Eda admired Edric's new golden ones.

"Oooh, it DOES bring out yoyr eyes! You'll have to do it again for that Illusionists Battle thingy" Eda says with a grin.

Edric gives a nervous little sound "i-I'm not sure if I have the guts to do that" he says.

"Pshaw! I tell you what, I'm gonna be there too, if I hear a single person make fun of you for your stylin choice, I'll crack em open like a Maulantula egg!" Eda says abd shakes her fist in potential future vengeance.

Edric gave a little laugh at that, morbid as it sounded, he appreciated Eda's support.

"Yeah, add me to that too, although I am jealous that you wear it better" Emira adds and pulls at his ears playfully, Edric squeaks and bats her hands away.

"Haha! My trusty steed triumphs over even his genetic clone!"

"Its called twins King" Luz says as he continues to paint her nails.

"Whatever!" King says and continues to work diligently.

"I call dibs on next, I can never get it looking that prestine" Emira says and King gives a cute little hand wave as he looks away with a grin.

Amity was reading Luz's fifth Azura book for the hundredth time, probably just to pass the time.

"Alright, I'm gonna go check on them, you all keep doing what you're doing, and for pete's sake if they come down and you all dog pile them…. Save some room for me" Eda says and smirks and everyone laughs a bit.

Eda scales the stairs slowly, moving to the door to press her ear against it, not immediately hearing anything to make her think Indigo was in fact awake, before lightly knocking and opening the door.

It seemed Indigo was awake, just kind of bundled up on their chair.

"Kid?" Eda calls and steps inside, seeing them flick their ears up before their head follows.

"Its okay Kid, you're sa-aaahhh!" Eda was bowled over in a heartbeat as Indigo flung themselves into her arms and knocked them over.

"Geez kid, its okay, its okay, like I was saying, you're safe!" Eda says and sits up as Indigo clings to her like a baby chipgunk.

"You wanna go see the others?" Eda asks, Indigo doesnt let go or answer right away, it took another minute or so of silence and patience before they released Eda, looking up at her.

"I know kid, if it were me I'd have been scared too, dont tell Lily though" Eda says with a wink and Indigo just manages a smile at that.

"Eddy's been worried though, but I had King watching over him, seems he got a bit of a pep talk too" Eda says, trying to get Indigo to focus on other things.

"Wanna go see him?" Eda asks as Indigo looks worried at the mention of Edric.

Indigo nods their head slowly.

"Alright kid, come on, up we get" Eda says and scoots them off her lap so she could stand up and pull them to their slightly shaky feet.

"I gotcha kid, come on" she says and puts an arm around Indigo as they leave the room and hwad for the dtairs.

Everything downstairs stalled when two sets of footsteps started down the steps, everyone's eyes watched the bottom of the stairs, till the two were down and almost everyone was on their feet, just waiting as Eda and Indgio turn off the steps and into view, everyone could see Indigo was shaking a bit, their eyes still held some of the fear of the previous events.

Naturally, Edric was the first to move, running over to envelope Indigo in a tight hug, nearly pushing the poor kid over in the process, if Eda hadn't been there to give them that extra bit of support, next came Luz, then Amity, then Emira, Eda of course got in as promised and King clambered over everyone else to hug the top of their head.

Indigo felt the overwhelming urge to cry and just did, they cried hard against Edric's shoulder, crying from relief at being home and aafe, crying from fear of what had happened, crying from everyone's combined show of affection and care.

Soon everyone but Edric had calmed down and let go, the rest decided to give the two some space, everyone kind of just heading off to different rooms for a while.

Indigo clings to Ed tightly, so relieved that he was okay, that those horrible people couldn't hurt him.

Edric speaks softly, though it's completely muffled into Indigo's shoulder so they dont hear, they can feel his relief, his concern, his slight hurt and all the other emotions he needed to let out all bubbling to the surface slowly.

Indigo gently pries Edric from their shoulder till hes look9ng them in the eye.

"Tell me" is all they have to say.

"I was worried about you!" Edric starts in a shrill tone of voice, his eyes already teary, only getting moreso as he xxontinues.

"Those witches could have killed you, sold you, given you to Belos, hurt you" he says with a gasp, before taking a long deep breath to calm himself.

Indigo nods their head slowly "Yes, they definitely could have done all of those things" they say softly.

"You got me out, but why didn't you run!?" Edric asks

"Because they would have chased us both, they said they caught you on a whim, I was their target, but they needed you to keep me in check, without you, they had no leverage, with you…. They could have hurt you too, sold you with me, almost killed you to keep me in there, and if they had been working for Belos, what would happen to your family if you were with me? He could have taken all of them to keep me under his control" Indigo says, their body shakes with the effort of keeping calm.

Edric's head lowers as they give their reasons.

"Do you think I'm too weak to protect you?" He asks in a small voice, his eyes locked onto Indigo's.

Indigo feels all his insecurities welling up.

"Edric, you braved walking to the skull to try to meet me, you tricked your sisters into taking you to meet me, you braved a cave of nothing but darkness to meet me, you showed me everything I wanted to see, you punched Stonic in the face and fought off his crew when they cornered me in a classroom, you braved a maulantula to help me, I tried to bite you and you still chased after me in a dangerous forest, you flew to Belos' castle and saved me, you helped rescue Eda from Belos by turning a crowd against him, you helped bring my parents back from the conformitorium, with bruised ribs to boot, Edric Blight, if I thought you were a weak person, I'd be insane or brain-dead" Indigo says, not letting him look down when they finished the list of feats the boy before them had performed.

Edric closes his eyes and sniffles quietly, trying to hide his tears by turning away, but Indigo moves him back towards them.

"And the bravest thing you do Ed, is showing me when you need my help, being able to show me that side of you, after everything this world has done to make you feel like you shouldn't, makes you the bravest person I've ever met"

Edric broke down as soon as those words were spoken, falling into their arms and sobbing against them.

Indigo holds Edric tight and murmurs softly "I was scared without you Ed, really scared, I couldnt…. Couldn't tell anything, those stupid shrouds, I couldnt tell if he was bluffing or not" 

Edric holds them tighter "Welcome to my world" he murmurs softly.

"Just proves how much braver you are" 

"Hey lovebird, I hate to interrupt the hugging and gushing but uh, dinners been ready for like ten minutes, you better come eat before it's all gone" Eda says as she peeks around the corner.

"Yeah, come on guys! It's Spaghetti and Eyeballs!" Luz calls.

Edric lets go shyly and rubs his neck as Indigo steps back too, already missing the hug, but missing good food in their stomachs just as much.

Eda smirks as they walk past "What? No kiss?" She teases and Edric makes the most bashful squeak, making her laugh controllably as he proceeds to batter her with small feeble punches.

Indigo just giggles along with everyone else as Eda starts batting back and they get into a slap-off in a very overdramatic fashion.

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys enjoy this do leave a comment and tell me, i love getting them and its really motivating when people tell me what they like.


End file.
